Sakura Hōzuki
by 46neko
Summary: My fellow citizens of the Leaf, I, Jiraiya, have returned to the world of writing to tell you the story of your Sixth Hokage. It tells how she struggled being a fatherless jinchuuriki, but with an incredible will she was able to find friendship, music and even love. On the other hand, she also lost almost everything she had started out with along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, guys! It's 46neko here with my first fanfiction ever! The pairing is ItaSaku: but there's not much romance in this story, sorry. It's rated T for some violence. The Uchiha Clan Massacre does happen in here. It's really sad, but that's where Itachi shows some of his most heroic qualities. Even though this story is mostly told from Sakura's POV, Itachi's just as much of the hero as her. I don't actually like Sakura that much, but she fit my storyline really well, so I decided to make her more like the Shippuuden version of herself. Hope that suits all those Sakura-haters out there. :)**

**Okay, I'll stop babbling now. Just one more thing: I don't own Naruto. This applies to all of the chapters in this story.**

* * *

"Shannarō!" Sakura yelled as she used all her Chakra Enhanced Strength to cancel out Tsunade's punch. The Fifth Hokage was lashing out so fast and at random, a fellow Sannin and an ANBU combined were having difficulty staying alive.

"Sakura, keep blocking her! I'll find an opening," Jiraiya shouted, knowing Tsunade was too intoxicated to understand his words. Sakura was too busy to reply, but he knew she had heard. She widened her eyelids so that they would not blink but let her other reflexes kick in. Tsunade started kicking, and the two of them became a blur of limbs. Sakura focused on the red flashing before her eyes, the nail polish Tsunade used, as it was easier to see than the colour of skin.

Suddenly, a senbon needle whistled through the air. Sakura jumped onto the wall just in time as Tsunade collapsed from the anesthesia.

"Alright there, Sakura?" Jiraiya asked after letting out a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine," Sakura panted. "Can you watch over Kāsan while I get the herbs?" Jiraiya nodded, knowing the protocol. This was not an exclusive occurrence.

Sakura body-flickered over to the Hokage garden. Before Tsunade, the greatest medical-nin in the world, had moved into the Hokage building, the only places with medical herbs advanced enough to be used in the Delicate Illness Extraction no Jutsu were the hospitals. Thankfully Sakura did not need to explain to the hospital staff that she needed to suck sake out of their Kage.

As Sakura made her way through the rows of plants, she took out a roll of bandages and began to tape her fractured right index finger. She could have told Jiraiya about it, but Tsunade had inflicted worse injuries on her when she was sober. It was not that Sakura's mother was abusive, but in ANBU she faced life or death situations. She would not be able to fight back if she was unused to pain.

She snapped on her black gloves to hide the white bandages, and crouched down at each necessary herb, plucking them with her left hand. Once she had gathered everything she needed, she flickered back into Tsunade's workroom.

"Did anybody come while I was gone?" Sakura asked Jiraiya as she dropped the bundle of herbs down into a bowl on the Fifth's desk, grinding them up with the ninjatō she had received when she first joined ANBU. She applied the acting skills she had also learned there and used her right hand under Jiraiya's scrutiny. But even with a fractured finger, she did not need his help. The yellow medicinal fluid seeped out from the plants quickly with her superhuman strength.

"Thankfully, no. Let me mix that for you," Jiraiya offered, holding his hand out. Sakura placed the ninjatō in it with a, "Thanks, Tōchan," and knelt beside her mother. The fight had gone on for about ten minutes, and the time she had spent on the herbs nearly doubled that. The alcohol would have travelled too far down Tsunade's system for Sakura to make the incision in her chest cavity, the most ideal place. She untied Tsunade's obi and muttered, "Chakra Scalpel no Jutsu." Then she placed her hand over her mother's stomach, blue chakra glowing in an outline of her glove. With her left hand she pulled back Tsunade's blouse and cut without piercing the skin at all.

"Tōchan, is it ready?" Sakura asked without looking up. "Yes," Jiraiya answered, and set down the bowl of liquid. Sakura could tell he cared a lot about his former teammate, even though Tsunade had married him without reciprocating his feelings.

The younger villagers all thought Jiraiya was Sakura's father, and the elders respected their Hokage enough to play along with it. They were told that the Sannin's hair was white from old age, as both he and Tsunade were only slightly too young to be Sakura's grandparents, but it used to be pink like hers. He was her father more than her biological one had ever been to her, but they did not share blood. Not even Tsunade knew who Sakura's true father was, as she had been intoxicated then as well. He should not have been so hard to find, as there were not many men with pink hair and green eyes in the world, but he was most likely a criminal. He was skilled enough to have taken advantage of Tsunade when she was drunk, and she's clearly not the type of person sake makes hazy, Sakura thought. Then she shook her head and told herself to focus. She reached into the bowl, and when she drew it out the fluid had become a bubble attached to her hand. She lowered the sphere into the incision inside Tsunade's body and held it there for a minute. Once the weight had stopped increasing, Sakura pulled the bubble, which had a whitish substance drifting in it, back out. She stuck her hand out over the empty bowl and dropped the bubble in, and with a splash it became liquid again.

As Jiraiya emptied the bowl into the sink, Sakura placed two fingers on each side of her mother's head and injected chakra through them. Tsunade sat up with a start.

"Sakura," she coughed, and then grabbed her daughter's hand. "Your finger." Alcohol truly did not affect her in the same way as other people. Her eyes were still as sharp as ever.

Jiraiya turned to look at Sakura. "You're injured?"

"I'm so sorry," Tsunade whispered.

"It's fine," Sakura shrugged them off. "I'd better hurry though, if I don't want to be late for my mission." She slipped her goggles over her head. They were orange, and made her green eyes look brown: the same colour as her mother's. Sakura and her parents had agreed that she would pretend to have her mother's eyes.

Sakura gave the Hokage and then Jiraiya a fleeting hug and then body-flickered to the place she was supposed to meet her new team. This was an extremely important mission, or she would have made her goodbye longer, as she would be away for a month. She and the other two members of her team were to escort the daimyō of the Land of Water back to his country from a daimyō summit in theirs, the Land of Fire. As a daimyō had power even over a kage, he had an enormous target on his back. His usual guards, two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, had defected from the village. The paranoid Water Daimyō feared that he was their target; so to protect himself he had hired three of the best ninja in the most reputed hidden village, other than the Hokage herself who had duties.

Sakura had never known the real identities of her teammates before, as normally ANBU were ordered to destroy their bodies rather than reveal their faces to an enemy. But on this mission it was best if opposing ninja knew who they would be up against and freeze in fear, making it easy for Sakura and her team to temporarily seal them away. Sakura was the Hokage's daughter, so it would be easy to identify her, especially with her trademark goggles. And it would be impossible not to recognize Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake with a flash of their Sharingan. Sakura had seen both of these great ninja in passing around the village and inside the Hokage building, but she was looking forward to actually getting to know them. Also, ever since she learned Kakashi had a Sharingan, she had also been curious how he had obtained it without being born into Itachi's clan.

Sakura thought she heard a gasp as she materialized in the middle of the training field. She guessed that it came from the Daimyō, as he was most likely not familiar with the body-flickering technique. Then she backtracked on that thought when she saw the Daimyō shriek a few seconds later. "My goodness, Senju-kun!" the Water Daimyō cried dramatically, and put a hand to his robed chest. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Forgive me, Mizu-sama," Sakura bowed low and kept her eyes from rolling. She also bowed to her captain. "Kakashi-taichō."

"Hello, Sakura. You're right on time," a ninja with grey hair that defied gravity smiled at Sakura, or at least she thought he did, only being able to see one of his eyes out of his entire face. The other one was covered with his forehead protector. Sakura had been looking forward to seeing her teammates without their masks, but it turned out that Kakashi wore another mask under his ANBU one. He was still recognizable from his hair, though, and had probably been wearing a similar mask most of his life. Sakura often knew more about people than they knew about her, sometimes creeping them out on purpose with her best friend Anko Mitarashi, but her mother was strangely secretive about Kakashi's history. He must have had a horrible past, Sakura thought all of these things in a second.

Sakura finally turned to the other member of her team. He had onyx eyes and shoulder-length black hair with the back third tied in a low ponytail. She knew about their clan's past rivalries with each other, and that her mother disliked the Uchiha, to put it mildly. But their fights were all ego-driven and petty, so she wanted to make peace between the two clans. She was going to treat Itachi just like any other citizen of the Leaf, giving him the benefit of the doubt unless a time came when he betrayed her trust. "Itachi-senpai."

"Sakura-san," he greeted back politely. That was a start.

Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Now that our introductions are finished, we should get going. Daylight is our ally on this mission." "Hai!" Sakura and Itachi both acknowledged at the same time, and the Water Daimyō nodded his head. The four of them headed off towards the green gates at the entrance to the Leaf.

The two guards there immediately stood up and bowed to them when the group came into their sight. "Safe travels," the one with a bandage around his head and across the bridge of his nose said. "Thank you, Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san. See you back here in two months," Kakashi replied, and they left the Leaf, Sakura rolling her green chakra over her wounded finger.

Her captain's words were not a promise.

* * *

**So, how did you guys like it? I can take criticism, don't worry ;)**

Sakura: Wow, Jiraiya-sensei, you wrote a whole clean chapter!

Jiraiya: Heh; I've been known to do that once in a while.

Sakura: Once in a _very _long while.

*doorbell rings*

Lady: Hokage-sama, may I come in?

Jiraiya: *nosebleed* I'll get it!

Sakura: *sweatdrops* Erm... please review? ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm baaaack! Thank you to the one person who reviewed! So, yes, Sakura's a jinchuuriki, but she's the jinchuuriki of a different tailed beast than Naruto. Naruto and the rest of the Konoha 11 come in quite a while later, so keep an eye out for them!**

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"Can I ask you a question?" Itachi switched places with Kakashi and fell into step beside Sakura, tired of catering to the Water Daimyō at last. She glanced at him sideways, wondering if he was human. His patience and abilities were far beyond that of a fifteen-year-old. Sakura was thirteen and could give the Hokage a tough time, but she was directly descended to the first hokage Hashirama Senju, also called the God of Ninja. He was even greater than Madara Uchiha, Itachi's most formidable ancestor and one of the only two people ever to have awoken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Sakura could not wait to fight his descendant, to whom she replied jokingly, "Nope, seeing as you just did."

"You just contradicted yourself," Itachi stated with a completely straight face. Sakura stared at him in disbelief. _Is this guy serious_? she wondered.

"Why do you wear those goggles?" he suddenly asked. Sakura shrugged nonchalantly. She had been asked that question many times, and had a logical answer prepared since long ago.

"To protect my eyes."

"Why did you choose the colour orange? Doesn't it hinder your eyesight?" Itachi inquired.

"It also prevents me from being blinded by the sun," Sakura told her teammate.

"There's no sun in the Hokage building, so why do you were them there?" he fired another question at her. Sakura knew that if robotic Itachi was this curious, then her captain and the Water Daimyō would probably want to know as well. She would rather only lie once to them all together. Also, one of the best tips she had ever received about lying was not to overdo it. She would be hesitant about the lie as if it were the truth.

"I guess I just got comfortable with them," she replied.

"Well, they're ugly. You shouldn't wear them when you don't have to," Itachi commented. He was not joking or even insulting her. He used the same tone he would with the Hokage. He was the perfect ANBU, devoid of emotion.

"Oi, don't insult my babies!" Sakura moved to smack him on the back of his head. He was one of the fastest ninja in the Leaf, while speed was her weakness, so she was surprised when her fist actually made contact. It made her think Itachi had let her hit him, especially when he took the blow silently. She was naturally quite strong even without enhancing her strength with chakra, so it must have hurt.

"How do you have that much power with an injured finger?" Itachi asked. Sakura faked a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of her head. "Oh, that. I was training."

"You train right before missions?" Itachi inquired. "It was a warm-up," she did not miss a beat.

"You broke your finger during a warm-up?" he questioned skeptically.

"You forget that my sensei is the strongest person in the world," Sakura reminded him.

"Woman," he corrected her. She raised her eyebrows. "You don't know when to stop, do you? She's my mother."

"Exactly, so she must have told you she lost an arm-wrestling match to the Fourth Raikage," Itachi went on in his monotone, which only served to offend Sakura further. She was starting to have empathy for her Uchiha-despising mother.

"Wrong," she hissed. "She lost in speed, not strength. Raikage-sama was being overpowered by her when he let go of her hand and used the momentum of his speed to surprise her."

"Senju-kun?" the Water Daimyō's voice called before Itachi could answer. "Hai, Mizu-sama?" Sakura reluctantly body-flickered over to where he and Kakashi had stopped.

"I think I have blisters from walking so much, can you check my feet?" The Water Daimyō asked Sakura.

She made a face behind her mask while the Water Daimyō dusted off and then sat down on a log. They had only travelled halfway through the forest right outside the Leaf's gates. He had been carried there in a shelter, but agreed to sacrifice the luxury in favour of efficiency. Sakura took off the Water Daimyō's sandals and tilted his feet so that she could see the undersides of them. They were blistered, but barely. Sakura tried to use as little chakra as she could healing them. She could tell her teammates shared her thoughts that this was a waste of energy that could be used for fighting.

"Is that better, Mizu-sama?" Sakura asked the Water Daimyō as she put his sandals back on for him. He nodded. "Thank you," he said as they set off again. "You're welcome," Sakura grinned brightly at him, but her smile faded when she realized her captain had left his post and was now walking with Itachi instead of the Water Daimyō.

Now that she was stuck with the daimyō, she decided the easiest way for her was to let him do the talking. With the interrogation skills Ibiki-sensei had taught her, she might even be able to get some useful information.

"Mizu-sama, just in case we do run into those two Ninja Swordsmen, could you please describe to me everything you know about them?" Sakura inquired. "Anything will help, even personality traits."

"Of course. Anything to protect myself," the Water Daimyō replied. Sakura did not even bother to make a face this time. "Kushimaru Kuriarare is an ANBU just like you three. He wields Nuibari, which is basically a gigantic version of a sewing needle. He threads wire string through the eye and uses it mostly for torture. About his personality, let's see…" He thought for a moment, while Sakura glanced at him through the eyeholes of her mask. She had little respect for daimyō as they were born into royalty, while kage had to work extremely hard for their positions. Her mother was no different, even though she was related to both the First and Second Hokage. The Fourth's surname was Namikaze, which was not even a clan. Yet the Third had so much confidence in him he had chosen to retire with the Fourth in his stead, though he was forced to take up the position again when the Fourth died during the Nine-Tails' attack on the Leaf.

"Kushimaru killed his own sensei, so ruthless would probably be the best way to describe him. His partner, Jinpachi Munashi, is the same. Jinpachi murdered his older brother."

Sakura's eyes widened. How could someone kill their sensei, let alone their own sibling? She tried to squash her emotions, which were undesirable in the ANBU, by continuing smoothly with: "And his battle strategies?"

"His sword is called Shibuki, and is covered by a scroll containing explosive tags. He incorporates explosions into his swordsmanship so that he has a better chance of reaching the victim, as the blast radius covers a larger area than the sword could." Sakura nodded, as if there was a single ANBU who would be unable to figure that fact out in two seconds. He finished, "Together, they are called the Heartless Pair."

In front of her, Sakura saw Itachi turn back and walk in their direction. "Mizu-sama, Sakura-san, Kakashi-taichō suggests that we stop in the village ahead to eat lunch," he informed them.

"That's a good idea. Stress makes people hungry, you know!" the Water Daimyō chimed. Sakura barely managed not to exchange looks with Itachi.

The Water Daimyō chose Mitarashi Dango's, which Sakura was excited about. Anko's stepfather owned the restaurant chain, and they always ate there together. Sakura would then bring something home for her mother. They were both too busy to cook, and Jiraiya could not to save his life even if he was not constantly in the women's section at the hot springs.

Sakura sat down in between the Water Daimyō and Itachi. She noticed that Kakashi, beside Itachi, was once again as far from the Water Daimyō as he could get. Something must have happened between them, or Kakashi was the laziest ANBU captain on the planet. Sakura was not sure. He was a hero to many, but Jiraiya had also told her that her captain was the number one fan of his Make-Out book series.

A young waitress in a horribly low-cut outfit flounced over to them at that moment. "May I take your order?" she purred, clearly only at Itachi, batting her eyelashes at him. Sakura snorted, and the waitress shot her a glare, muttering, "Gaki," under her breath. Most people would not have caught it, but ANBU training had heightened all of Sakura's senses.

She leaned back with a smirk on her face. "I'd watch it if I were you. My best friend's stepfather owns this restaurant chain." The waitress was momentarily shocked into silence. Itachi, his expression as impassive as ever, took the opportunity to order for everyone. Sakura had to say she was impressed with the way he could so calmly handle anything that was thrown at him.

Once the waitress had left at last, Kakashi asked Sakura, "You're best friends with Anko-chan?"

"Chan?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. "You must know her well."

Kakashi turned away. "We're colleagues."

"Ha! You're blushing!" Sakura pointed her finger at him across Itachi, who grabbed her arm and pushed it out of his way.

"How can you possibly tell when I only have one eye showing?" Kakashi questioned.

Sakura changed the subject back. "I think An-sensei will be willing to make me godmother of your guys' babies. Would you?"

"I would never make a thirteen-year-old who speaks to her team captain in this manner the godmother of my children," Kakashi stated bluntly.

"Ah, forgive me, Taichō," Sakura quickly remembered her place, and the daimyō sitting on her left. She then saw Itachi looking at her, and asked, "Itachi-senpai? Is there something wrong?"

"You're completely different from any other girl I've met," Itachi answered. He had meant it as an evaluation, but Kakashi seized the chance to say, "Do I sense the beginnings of something here?"

Sakura sweatdropped. "You've been reading my father's books too much, Kakashi-taichō," she commented.

"Jiraiya-san writes?" the Water Daimyō inquired.

"Yes. Please don't read his books though, Mizu-sama," Sakura replied.

"Why ever not?" he asked. Then he looked up at the arrival of their food. "Ah, it's been too long since I've had dango!" he rubbed his stomach and dug in, completely forgetting about his earlier question.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

After they had all left the restaurant, Sakura smoothly slipped next to Itachi to force her team captain to finish his shift with the Water Daimyō, who seemed to have no clue of their antics. Itachi, however, was looking at her with an amused look on his face.

"What? A captain shouldn't be so lazy," Sakura defended herself.

"Respect," Itachi chastised her.

"Respect is earned," Sakura insisted. "This squad is the most irritating I've ever worked with."

"Too bad you're going to have to spend the next month with us, then," Itachi remarked. When Sakura laughed wryly, he added, "That wasn't supposed to be funny. I was merely stating a fact."

Sakura sighed. "I'm going to change you. I'm going to make you feel something," she announced.

"I do feel something, right now," Itachi answered. Sakura perked up. "Like what?"

"Annoyance. You call us irritating, but have you ever taken a look at yourself?"

Sakura's smile grew even wider, if anything. "Hey, well, that's something! I thought you were incapable of being annoyed. I guess the daimyō did irritate you, but you could refrain from showing it until I finally got to you."

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Itachi rolled his eyes. "Shannarō!" Sakura pumped her fist in the air, but behind her mask her eyes were darting around, searching for whatever it was that had forced Itachi to pretend that he had surrendered to her.

In front of her, Kakashi still appeared to be listening intently to the Water Daimyō, but Sakura observed her team captain's hand making its way ever so slowly under his ANBU cloak and towards the ninjatō sheathed inside.

* * *

**Ooh, a cliffie! What'll happen to Sakura and her team next? Stay tuned to find out! ^^**

Jiraiya: Those goggles were pretty dumb.

Sakura: Says the one who wears a forehead protector with cat ears on it!

Me: Hey, cats are awesome!

Sakura: Why are you on Pervy Sage's side?!

Jiraiya: Oi, I told you not to call me that!

Sakura and I: *giggle and run away* Jaa ne!


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to silverwolfigther00 for reviewing!**

**Okay, so for those of you who visited my profile, you know that I love badminton. You guys probably don't care, but omgomg I'm so happy I came third in my school district for singles and mixed doubles! There's still Upper Frasers though, which only the top six get into. Ugh it's like a seven hour tournament with really good people. Wish me luck; I'm going to need it!**

**Anyways, so here's chapter 3! Hope you guys like it.**

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As soon as they felt the air shift slightly, Sakura, Itachi and Kakashi encircled the Water Daimyō. Itachi had activated his Sharingan and Kakashi had drawn his sword, while Sakura directed her chakra into her arm.

The ninja leapt out at them then. Surprisingly, the four of them made no move to attack. Sakura understood when one of them announced, "Give us your money, and no one gets hurt."

"Let me do it," Itachi whispered. "I'll make the least amount of mess." Without waiting for a reply, he made eye contact with each of the bandits, and they all consecutively dropped like stones.

Kakashi quickly took off the huge scroll strapped to his back and summoned four small scrolls from it, one for each bandit's body. He handed these to Itachi, while Sakura prepared to knock out anyone who saw them with the same anesthesia she used on Tsunade that morning. Now that she thought about it, Sakura and her mother were quite rough in fights. They healed in the hospital but crushed bones on the battlefield, and often managed to change the terrain with their strength. Sakura had to marvel at Itachi's… efficiency.

Itachi returned the four used scrolls to his captain, who sealed them back inside the large scroll. There were many more small scrolls, as they would be encountering a great amount of enemies. They could also buy scrolls in almost every village, however most ninja prefer to attack others between towns, where there are fewer witnesses.

As expected, there were many similar attacks to the bandits throughout the next couple of weeks. However, Sakura had expected to have much more fun on an A-ranked mission than she'd had so far. The Water Daimyō moaned and groaned from seasickness throughout the entire boat ride to the Land of Water. And despite her countless attempts, Sakura was no closer to either of her teammates. She had even confided in them one of her biggest secrets.

It was dark out, and Sakura's team plus the Water Daimyō were settling down to make camp for the first time. As expected, the Daimyō was muttering to himself about having to sleep on the ground, even though Sakura had given him her blanket. Her teammates had protested, but then they'd relaxed when she suggested that whoever was next on guard duty could give her their blanket when their turn came.

"Aren't you tired from bouncing around all day?" Itachi asked Sakura, his eyes already half-closed. Sakura looked at him incredulously. "How are you tired from just walking?"

"I'm tired from concentrating, which I had to do twice as hard because _someone _on this team wasn't doing her fair share," Itachi retorted.

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't have freaky special eyes like the two of you!" Sakura exclaimed angrily.

"Sakura, keep your voice down," Kakashi interrupted their argument. "And aren't you supposed to be on guard right now?"

"Hai, Taichō," Sakura huffed, pulling out her sword. Itachi echoed her words robotically and then settled down into his makeshift bed.

Sakura sighed. _I can already tell that this is going to be one long mission_, she thought to herself as she nimbly scaled a tree and made herself comfortable between two branches.

Nothing eventful happened during her watch, other than a couple of false alarms by animals. Despite calling the Sharingan 'freaky', she wished she had the bloodline limit. Then she would be able to distinguish animals and the wind from enemy ninja. Her clan, despite producing three ninja skilled enough to become Hokage, had no bloodline limits. There was the Wood Release that the First possessed, but he was the only one. Sakura would be happy if she ended up becoming half as skilled as her great-grandfather had been. She was well on her way to achieving that goal, being the second youngest ninja ever to have been accepted into ANBU. But she saw the large gap between her capabilities and Itachi's, and hated it. As the Hokage's daughter, Sakura thought she should be at least his equal. She couldn't use the excuse that he was older than her, because he had made it into ANBU almost two years earlier. Despite her playfulness, Sakura was extremely serious about her job of protecting her home, and hated to perform at a lower level than she was capable of.

_I'll just have to work harder to catch up with Itachi-senpai_, Sakura told herself.

Just as she was thinking Itachi's name, she heard his voice. "Oi, Sakura, you should have called me by now."

Sakura looked up at the moon, and started when she saw that it had already passed the highest point in the sky. "Oh," she replied. "Well, you can start your shift now, then." She leapt down from her vantage point back onto the ground. Itachi tossed his blanket in Sakura's direction when she landed. "Thanks, Senpai," she said.

"Hn," was the response she received. She rolled her eyes and threw the blanket over herself. Enveloped in its warmth, she was out before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Kakashi's mind regained consciousness with his eyes still closed. He wondered what time it was: or, more specifically, whether it was his turn to keep guard. But he didn't want to open his eyes to check the moon.

He was debating on this dilemma when he heard an odd sound. His senses went on high alert, and he forced his breaths to be even. Then he heard it again, and this time he realized what it was: a whimper. Dread washed over him when he recognized Sakura's voice.

Abandoning all subtlety, Kakashi sprang up with his sword unsheathed. His eyes darted around, but found no one. He lifted his forehead protector with his left hand to reveal his Sharingan, keeping his firm grip on his sword. But the only chakra signatures that he could see were Itachi's and Sakura's, and both seemed normal. He looked in the direction of Sakura's bed, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was sleeping. He sheathed his sword.

Itachi leapt down from a tree at that moment. "Taichō, is there something wrong?" he asked. Kakashi shook his head. "False alarm. But you can never be too careful, you know, Itachi."

"Right," Itachi nodded solemnly. Inwardly, Kakashi sighed. The kid needed to lighten up a little. Actually, he needed to lighten up _a lot_.

"So, what set off that false alarm?" Itachi asked.

"I thought I heard Sakura whimpering," Kakashi answered. "She's probably just having a bad dream, though."

Itachi glanced at his female teammate. "She looks pretty tense. Should we wake her up?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. So Itachi did have a heart. Kakashi had heard rumours about the youngest ninja ever to be accepted into ANBU: rumours that he was a ruthless killing machine. Kakashi could believe that. The only children who made ANBU had crushed their emotions long ago: with the exception of Sakura. She was a bright little fireball that refused to be smothered by the darkness of ANBU. And looking at her trembling on the ground now, Kakashi took pity on her.

"Wake her," he told Itachi. The Uchiha nodded and proceeded to gently shake Sakura.

She jolted up and nearly punched Itachi right in the face. Kakashi winced. He had seen the Hokage's strength, and if Sakura had the same amount of power Itachi would have had his nose bashed in.

But, luckily, Itachi was faster than her. He landed gracefully next to his team captain while Sakura took a moment to get her bearings, panting heavily.

She saw Itachi and gasped. "Itachi-senpai, I'm so sorry! Are you all right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't get injured by a half-asleep thirteen-year-old," Itachi stated coldly.

Before another argument could start up again, Kakashi quickly interjected, "Are you okay, Sakura?"

"Yeah," Sakura dropped her gaze. "I just had a… nightmare, that's all."

"Does this happen often?" Kakashi asked her. "We don't want any noises alerting enemy ninja of our presence."

"Every day," Sakura sighed. "But don't worry, Kakashi-taichō: it's the worst when I first leave home, so it'll get better."

"What is this dream about that still scares you even though you have it every day?" Itachi inquired.

Sakura shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't even know why it scares me so much. It's just about this boy with grey hair, pink eyes and a scar that looks like a stitch running down his left cheek. His eyes suddenly turn red and he starts killing people."

_The description sounds like the Fourth Mizukage_, Kakashi thought to himself. "Do you know that boy?" he asked Sakura.

"No, I have no idea who he is. That's why it's so weird that it freaks me out so much," she replied.

Kakashi considered her. He wondered why she would have so many nightmares about the Fourth Mizukage when she didn't even recognize his face. Then Kakashi noticed that Sakura still had her orange goggles on, the ones that reminded him so much of Obito: except that Obito had always taken them off when he was sleeping.

"Hey, Sakura, why are you still wearing those goggles?" he asked his student, who sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "I don't want you guys to see me cry," she admitted. Then she changed the subject as quickly as she could. "Why do you wear a mask, Kakashi-taichō?"

Kakashi shrugged. "To give people something to recognize me by." He wasn't prepared to tell his students the full truth yet.

Little did he know that he wasn't the only one lying.

* * *

**So... what's this mysterious connection between Sakura-chan and the Fourth Mizukage?**

Sakura: Well, he's actually-

Jiraiya: DON'T SPOIL IT FOR THEM!

Sakura: *shrugs* Sorry, guys. I tried.

Jiraiya: Don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter 4! This is where the story really starts to pick up; hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Sakura and her team were peacefully strolling down a path when the pattern of Itachi's footsteps was suddenly broken. It was a slight change, but Sakura was immediately on high alert.

They kept walking for a while before two ninja finally chose to reveal themselves. Sakura, Itachi and Kakashi surrounded the Water Daimyō in an instant. But the pair approached them slowly, at their own pace. There was an air of quiet confidence about them. That and the ANBU mask one of them wore told Sakura that these two were of a much higher caliber than all of the bandits they had encountered so far.

_Wait a second,_ Sakura thought. _A Mist ANBU mask?_

The Daimyō shrieked. "It's Kushimaru and Jinpachi!"

Sakura drew her ninjatō at these words. Her strength would be useless against swords that could just cut her hand off. Kushimaru and Jinpachi did the same.

"Hello again, Mizu-sama," the man Sakura identified to be Jinpachi from the explosive tags rolled over one flat side of his sword mocked the Water Daimyō, who looked petrified. "Don't worry, Mizu-sama!" Sakura called to him. "You hired us for a reason!"

"I see you've replaced us with kids," Kushimaru remarked. His sword really was an enormous version of a sewing needle. "The Leaf must be going down the tubes, if little girls like this one can get into ANBU."

"Well, you're so pathetic you still wear your ANBU mask to show off that you got in," Sakura retorted. She then sent lightning nature chakra down into her sword, and charged at Kushimaru. Itachi and Kakashi were longer-range fighters than her, and would be a better match for Jinpachi and his explosives.

Kushimaru was fast and seemed to know the cutting effects of lightning release, as he did not use his sword to try to block Sakura's. It was to be expected: to become even a jōnin, a ninja was required to be educated in the basic nature transformations. Part of the ANBU testing was whether a ninja had developed at least two different chakra natures, to make up for the weakness of an affinity. Sakura's affinity was water release, and she had learned lightning release from her mother. Water was strong against fire but weak against earth. However, earth was weak against lightning. Lightning was weak against wind, but water balanced that out.

"I'm getting bored of this wild goose chase, aren't you?" Kushimaru asked Sakura. Without waiting for a reply, he shouted, "Hiding in Mist no Jutsu!"

A thick mist shrouded the battlefield. Sakura began to leap around in random directions as fast as she could. That way, she would not be a sitting duck for Kushimaru, who could most likely see through his own creation, or Jinpachi.

Still, if it were not for her captain's shouted warning Sakura would have been blown to bits a few seconds later. Her goggles guarded her eyes from the explosion, but with that last valiant act her protector cracked and fell onto the ground in pieces, exposing her true eye colour.

"Well, look what we have here," the voice of Jinpachi wafted through the mist. "I think we've found _her_, don't you, Kushimaru?" "She has the Fifth's eyes, and she does look exactly like the Fourth," was Kushimaru's reply.

Sakura had never been so confused in her life. Her eyes were green, not brown like her mother's, though she wished they were so she would not have to hide them all the time. And she did not think she resembled the Fourth Hokage at all. Then she realized Jinpachi and Kushimaru could be talking about any kage. But no kage had ever possessed pink hair.

Kushimaru echoed her thoughts. "Her hair, though… I guess she could have dyed it?"

"Pink? Not too smart, are you?" Jinpachi laughed at Sakura. "I guess we'll just have to wait until your true hair colour shows up."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Sakura ground her teeth. Suddenly, she screamed as a sword with a string attached to it pierced through her back.

"Sakura!" both of her teammates shouted.

"Kakashi-taichō! Itachi-senpai! Just go and finish the mission without me!" Sakura yelled, coughing up blood.

"We're not leaving you!" her team captain shouted back.

"Well, this is troublesome," Jinpachi's voice wafted over to them. "Kushimaru, do you think we should summon _them_?"

"Go ahead," Kushimaru drawled back. Sakura's body tensed, even through her pain, in preparation for what was about to come. She thanked Kami for her mother's pain training, now matter how much she had hated it at the time. It might just save her life here.

"Summoning no Jutsu!" Jinpachi yelled, and suddenly the mist cleared. Sakura gasped at what he had summoned; or, rather, who.

They wore white masks with slits for eyeholes and red waves patterned onto them: the masks of the Mist's ANBU. And there were so many of them! Sakura and her team might be the best of the best, but there were only three of them, and about a hundred Mist ANBU.

Sakura gazed down at the wire protruding out of her stomach, binding her to Kushimaru's sword. It was made of extremely durable material for its thickness, but she could easily pierce through it with her chakra scalpel. Only, when she attempted to direct chakra into her hand, she found that her flow was completely out of control. When she probed further, she realized that there was a foreign chakra signature embedded in hers. It abruptly dawned on her. Kushimaru was sending some of his chakra down his sword, through the wire string and into Sakura's chakra system to disrupt her flow, preventing her from using any techniques, including medical ninjutsu. He was incredibly intelligent: no wonder the Water Daimyō and chosen him as a bodyguard.

That same Water Daimyō now cowered in fear from the men who had turned against him. Sakura could understand two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen defecting from the Mist — after all, they were not the first — but the village's entire ANBU? How on earth had Kushimaru and Jinpachi convinced them to turn?

Kushimaru addressed them then. "My fellow ANBU members, I believe we have captured Sakura Hōzuki."

The ANBU broke into an uproar. _Just who is this Sakura Hōzuki? _Sakura wondered. _She must be an extremely powerful person, to cause this scale of reaction from ANBU._

"Sakura…?" Itachi's voice cut into Sakura's thoughts. She turned to look at him, and then remembered that her mask had come off. Fear flooded her chest, which was irrational: she should have been much more afraid of torture and death by Kushimaru's hand than Itachi leaving her. But Sakura would take dying honourably on a mission any day rather than living with the pain of abandonment.

Still, she did have survival instincts, which kicked in when the Mist ANBU members charged at her. She used their numbers to her advantage, knocking down a whole row by punching only one of them. Using her lightning release would be useless against their water release, as the water would conduct the lightning and electrocute Sakura, so she countered with her own water release.

"Look, she's a water user, too!" Jinpachi crowed. "There's no mistake about it: this is Sakura Hōzuki! Now, all we have to do is wait for some red hair roots to start showing…"

"…And have some fun while we're at it," Kushimaru added, and with a yank of his sword he pulled Sakura towards him. She could not help crying out at the agony of the wire rubbing against her insides, which must have been what caused Itachi to try slicing the string with his sword. However, Jinpachi blocked him. "We won't mind taking an extra one, will we, Kushimaru?"

"You won't get me that easily," Itachi hissed.

"You shouldn't have left your client," Jinpachi remarked.

"Kakashi-taichō is more suited to protect Mizu-sama than me. If you created that mist again, he would smell you out if you got too close," Itachi told his enemy.

"What good will his nose do him when he's being attacked by a hundred ANBU?" Jinpachi snickered. "I hear ANBU would rather die than fail a mission. You had better take the Daimyō and run while we're occupied with your little friend here."

"Kakashi-taichō," Itachi addressed his captain with his onyx eyes still locked with Jinpachi's, "please escort Mizu-sama to the Mist without us—"

"No," Kakashi asserted firmly. "I won't abandon my comrades."

"And then bring the Mizukage here," Itachi finished. Kakashi still looked hesitant, but he recognized that Itachi's plan would give all of them a better chance of escaping. However, Jinpachi merely laughed. "Even the Mizukage and you won't be able to defeat us and the entire Mist ANBU combined."

"We'll prove you wrong," Kakashi insisted, probably more to reassure himself than to argue with Jinpachi. He then turned to the Water Daimyō, who was shaking like a leaf. "Mizu-sama, I'll have to carry you to go faster, if that's all right." The Water Daimyō did not make a sound, so Kakashi just scooped him up and disappeared into the trees.

Itachi's focus shifted back to their enemies. Sakura saw the steel in his eyes, and called out to him to run. She would not be able to live with herself if he died because of her. However, all that came out of her mouth was blood, and he finished the hand seals for his technique. "Dusk Crow Genjutsu," he muttered.

Half the ANBU immediately collapsed. Jinpachi looked shocked for a moment at how many of them Itachi had been able to defeat in just one second, but then his smirk returned when he saw that Itachi was swaying from chakra exhaustion. Sakura clenched her teeth. She had to do something. Only she did not have any long-range techniques besides water attacks, which fifty ANBU with an affinity for water release could easily defend against.

But she still had her voice. "Oi!" she yelled as loud as she could in a low voice, to make the ANBU think a new enemy had joined her and Itachi. It was only for a second that they were distracted, and immediately afterward Kushimaru slapped his hand over her mouth, but it gave Itachi a chance to hide and recover for a bit.

"There," one of the ANBU, a sensor probably, pointed east. All of the others that had not been knocked out by Itachi's genjutsu rushed in that direction. "I'd better go make sure they don't flip or something," Jinpachi told Kushimaru, and followed the group.

"So, it's just you and me now," Kushimaru drawled. Sakura ignored him, busy trying to stop herself from losing too much blood.

"I wouldn't bother," he told her. "I'm just going to do it again, you know."

"I'm a medical-nin," Sakura shot back. "Don't question me when it comes to healing."

"Oh, good. That means I can torture you more without you dying on me," Kushimaru replied.

"I'll kill myself," Sakura stated calmly.

"No, you won't," Kushimaru answered confidently.

In reply, Sakura brought her hands together, but Kushimaru was faster. He pulled her into a cave by her wrists and chained her hands and legs to the rock wall. It was obvious he was an experienced torturer. Sakura tried not to show her fear and took slow breaths, but for the first time in her life, she truly was terrified of reality. This was a nightmare that she would never be able to wake up from.

* * *

**So, who's this Sakura Hōzuki? Subscribe to find out! Unless you're reading this when I've already posted the next chapter: then just review! ^.^**

Jiraiya: Pink is a really weird hair colour.

Sakura: It's not my fault that I have it. Besides, your hair was white even when you were a kid; that's weird!

Jiraiya: Hey, my hair's awesome!


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back! I couldn't leave you guys on a cliffhanger for too long XD**

**Thank you to the one person who reviewed! Come on, the rest of you!**

**So anyways, this is where the music part of the story starts to come in. I'll be using Japanese songs cause they're awesome; but don't worry, I found English translyrics to all of them.**

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to a bright light. As she tried to turn away from the light that hurt her eyes, a pain as sharp as a knife stabbed her from all directions. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

"Sakura!" a voice rasped her name. Her eyes widened when she saw Itachi, chained to the rock wall opposite her. Around his wrists and ankles were the same cuffs with chakra-disturbing spikes that prevented her from using any techniques.

"Oh, no… not Itachi-senpai too…" she whispered.

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked her.

"Yeah, but what about you?" Sakura replied.

"You're the one they want," Itachi answered. "I'm just a toy to them, expendable: but they'll keep on torturing you and they won't let you die."

"That's comforting," Sakura snorted, and then immediately regretted it as pain seared through her once more. She cried out, and this time a sound bounced around off the cave walls.

"I see you're awake," a shadow suddenly blocked most of the light filtering in from outside. With the rest, Sakura could see the outline of a gigantic sewing needle. The cutting reply she had been about to make died in her throat, which had abruptly become dry.

Kushimaru took in her silence for a moment, and then chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to torture you anymore — yet. I'm just going to let you heal yourself so I can do more later."

"If you release my hands, I'll kill myself," Sakura hissed at him. But Kushimaru just laughed. "Too bad you can't make one-handed seals."

"Then I'll let myself die naturally," Sakura answered.

"You do that, and all the attention goes to your boyfriend over here," Kushimaru threatened. Sakura stiffened. She could not let him touch her teammate, even if she had only known him for a few weeks and had no feelings for him.

Of course, being the fearless warrior Itachi was, he had to interject, "Sakura, don't worry about me."

She ignored him. "I'll just have to wait until Kakashi-taichō comes back with Mizukage-sama, then. And they _will _kill you."

"We'll see about that," Kushimaru replied nonchalantly. "Are you going to heal yourself or not?"

Sakura considered for a moment. For him to let her heal herself, he would have to unlock one of the cuffs on her wrists. There was a chance she might be able to convince him to release the other one as well. She healed much faster than most people; so he would not be expecting her to have regained so much force that quickly.

"Yes, because otherwise I'll get an infection," Sakura muttered.

"Hn." Kushimaru walked over to her and unlocked the cuff on her right wrist. That gave Sakura an idea.

"I'm left-handed," she spat at Kushimaru.

"Nice try," he replied without batting an eye.

"No, seriously, I am," Sakura insisted.

"Yet you swordfight with your right hand?" Kushimaru snickered.

"But I heal with my left," Sakura pressed on.

"Well, I'll believe you if you die," Kushimaru answered.

"If I die, you'll never get whatever it is that you want from me," Sakura retorted. But Kushimaru just shrugged. "If you die, your tailed beast will come out and it'll save us the trouble of extracting it ourselves."

Sakura blinked. Tailed beast? Even after all of that torture, she still had no idea what Kushimaru was trying to get out of her.

She sighed and resigned herself to healing her broken body.

* * *

Five hours later, Sakura was doing the same thing, but her progress was much slower. "I meant what I said earlier, you know," Itachi whispered to her. Her eyes flickered up to his face. "The next time he releases your hand—"

"No," Sakura interrupted with as much force in her voice as she could muster at that moment. But seeing that Itachi was going to continue, she told him, "There is something you can do for me."

"Which is?" he asked.

"Sing," Sakura rasped. "I know your clan has traditional songs. Mine doesn't, though, and I never really get to hear any music." Thought of her family brought on a wave of fresh pain, but she blocked any sound from escaping her lips and any emotion from crossing her face.

"Okay," Itachi agreed slowly. He thought, and the first song that came to his mind was Soleil, which was about a heroine who reminded him a lot of Sakura. He drew in a deep breath and began to sing.

"Hear, he speaks with lonely eyes -

A god of death, listen to his sighs:

'Are you the fated one

Who'll save me from what I've become?'

Who would ever wish

For a darkness that could hurt like this?

Yes, the pain is so great,

Casting shades on your face…

Gaze ahead, she shines like the sun,

Still and calm, the girl stands alone.

Gently, gently she reaches out

Her smile is soft as she speaks aloud:

'It will be alright,

I'll bear all your shadows,

In the place of your pain

I will give you wings.

Turn your eyes, look up to the skies!

Spread your wings and fly free!

If you don't know where to go,

Take my hand and come with me.'

Look - he flies!

Wings turned white,

Where she goes

A white bird follows.

Many more are waiting still

To be saved by her goodwill,

And she doesn't fall,

Reaching out to hold them all.

Can you see? Look up to the skies -

Flying free, the air's filled with white.

And among those birds she lies,

Shines no more, as dark as the night.

Darkness came and took out her light,

Still, she stayed to give them her warmth

'Til, at last, using up all her might,

She turned cold, she won't sing anymore.

Hear them cry!

Flying to her side,

The birds' lament

Takes their pain back again.

Through the sky, only black birds fly,

Taking back their shadows and pain.

You alone shine golden bright -

You are our Soleil!"

Sakura felt her eyelids beginning to flutter with the calming song and voice. _It's all right; I'll just escape from reality for a moment or… two…_

* * *

"Wild flower blossoming

I beg of you, tell me this so I know too."

_Where is that voice coming from_? Sakura wondered, whirling around but seeing no one in the thick mist that seemed to engulf the world.

"Why do people fight?

They all act as if it's right

Don't they know

That's no

Way to live?"

The sound of a baby crying broke the melody. "I'm sorry," a female voice whispered. "I'm sorry, Sakura. Kāchan loves you. Just remember that."

* * *

Sakura woke with a start, and then started again when she realized the movement had hardly hurt her. She lifted her head to look up at Itachi. "How long have I been out?"

"More than two nights. You looked so peaceful; I thought you might have…" he trailed off, a wild look in his eyes.

"That's because your song was so beautiful," she smiled at him. "Can you sing something else? Something more… energetic?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Can you see the tears I cry? Slowly falling from my eye

Blurring all the colors of living

Why did you leave me standing alone to drown?

I'm calling and I am falling down

This blue and red and white is just blurring in my sight

I am shouting from the world here inside me

I am not really sure what I'm looking for

I'm tired chasing to comprehend

I'm wondering when it will end?

Am I breaking down again?

I am breaking just like then!

But I want to know that I am breathing, I'm breathing

I wonder if I just saw you

I am dreaming hoping for something new

The words are stuck that you stand for - ERROR

On a distant day I see light swaying away

And it's overflowing up in the high sky

Can you decide and tell me, what is your choice?

My tears are welling up by your voice

The consciousness is floating by

Melting all I feel and I see the world inside me get blurry

What are you standing there and comparing to?

I'm sad; I'm failing to comprehend

I'm wondering when it will end?

Is this my distorted soul?

This is my distorted goal

But I want to know that I am breathing, I'm breathing

I wonder if I just saw you

I am dreaming hoping for something new

The words are stuck that you stand for - ERROR

Even if I give it all, even if I lose it all, if I just forget it all

Can I? No, I can't

I am still a restless soul, laughing out with no control; I am killing what is whole

This is ERROR

Am I broken by your words?

Do you know what "broken" is?

Though you know that tears are only hurting, they're hurting

So tell me, are my words reaching

With my voice I'm standing here just to sing

My words are lining and blurring

They're just overlapping with colors wrapping

Am I breaking down again?

I am breaking just like then!

But I want to know that I am breathing, I'm breathing

I wonder if I just saw you

I am dreaming hoping for something new

The words are stuck that you stand for - ERROR."

"Wow," Sakura was at a loss for words. The emotion in that song was incredible, even more so since it was coming from Itachi. "Thank you," she whispered to him.

* * *

The sound of Itachi's voice carried outside to where Kushimaru and Jinpachi were sitting. "You're so cruel, Kushimaru-kun," Jinpachi shifted on the rock he was perched on to shake his head mockingly at his partner. "Purposely giving them more hope so it hurts more when you crush it…"

* * *

**I don't own any of these songs or the translyrics! The links are kind of weird because for some reason FanFiction always deletes the first part... for the YouTube ones put .com in front and for the deviantART ones put .com.**

**First song:** _Soleil_ by Rin Kagamine

English lyrics by CantabileDC (deviantART): /art/Soleil-Toraboruta-P-English-translyrics-380089151

**Second song:** _Euterpe_ by Egoist

English lyrics by Amanda Lee (Youtube): /watch?v=c83HLDbLre0

**Third song:** _Error_ by Lily

English lyrics by JoyDreamer (Youtube): /watch?v=oYY9CMPDaPc

Covers: Ritsu Namine, Yuuma

**Yuuma's cover sounds more like Itachi's would: it's an octave lower. Yuuma, Rin, Lily and Ritsu are computerized voices, so if you want to hear covers of their songs by real people, just search up the title and add 歌ってみた (utaite) at the end. The pic I used for this story is of Ritsu: who's a guy, by the way.**

Jiraiya: WHAT?! That's a _guy_?!

Me: *laughs* Sorry to disappoint you, Jira-sensei.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to silverwolfigther00 for reviewing! lol is it that weird that Itachi sings? I've read a lot of fanfiction where he's in a band with the Konoha Twelve... I guess I just like Japanese music too much XD**

**Ugh this week was so busy, I got sick... I had to hike for 7 hours straight (the program I'm in is _insane_ about outdoor stuff), had a 6-hour-long badminton tournament the day after, another 3-hour tournament the day after that, and 9-HOUR one a few days after. Oh, well: I'm pretty happy with how I did. 9th for Frasers! ^^**

**Lucky for you, I pre-wrote this chapter, so pretty much all I had to do was copy and paste! Enjoy.**

* * *

"That girl's good. I have to use more than regular torture techniques on her," Kushimaru told Jinpachi.

"It's been two days already, and she still hasn't snapped," Jinpachi agreed.

Kushimaru, who was much less carefree than his partner, shifted his eyes towards the Mist ANBU members. They were growing impatient, and could bail at any time. That Kakashi Hatake could come back any moment with the Mizukage, and without the Mist ANBU Kushimaru and Jinpachi would face certain death. He had to do something to keep their spirits up, but it had to be subtle so they would believe in it.

He admitted, "She's a true ANBU that way." Then he added loudly, "She's still holding on to childish ideals, though. Most ANBU would be loyal to their leader over their teammates."

"Sakura is loyal to both," a male voice suddenly joined them. Kushimaru and Jinpachi leapt up and drew their swords, but Kushimaru fell before the string attached to his had unraveled. The ANBU looked uneasy. Kushimaru had been their true leader, more so than Jinpachi, with his promises of good things to come if they captured the jinchūriki of the Six-Tails. Then they all seemed to collectively gasp as their kage came into their view.

The Fifth Mizukage glared down at them. "This is your last chance to surrender. If you don't, well… I'll have to fight you."

The ANBU all gulped. Kakashi had had doubts as to if the Mizukage could really defeat the entire Mist ANBU, but they all disappeared when he saw them all cower before her.

Jinpachi swore, breaking into Kakashi's thoughts. Now that Kushimaru and the ANBU were out of the picture, Jinpachi was dead for sure. He turned and began running, but the Mizukage was prepared. She raced after him, shouting to Kakashi, "Take care of your students!" before disappearing into the trees.

Kakashi sprinted over to the cave, praying that Sakura and Itachi were all right, that he had made the right decision. If they weren't, he would never be able to live with himself. He had lost his entire team before, but this was different: he was in charge of his students' safety. They were his responsibility, and he had chosen to leave them…

"Kakashi-taichō!" Sakura's lively voice called out to him, and he laughed hysterically with relief.

"Taichō, are you okay?" Itachi asked in his monotone, making Kakashi's grin even wider. "I'm great, what about you two?"

"We're fine, except that there are chakra rods stuck in our wrists and ankles," Sakura told him in an offhand tone.

"Is there a key to unlock them?" Kakashi asked her.

"Kushimaru has it," Sakura answered. "Oh, yeah: what happened to everyone?"

"I killed Kushimaru. The Fifth Mizukage's dealing with Jinpachi right now."

"What about the Mist ANBU?" Itachi inquired.

"They all surrendered after they saw Mizukage-sama," Kakashi replied. "Now, I'm going to get that key." He body-flickered away.

"Wow," Itachi was shaking his head. "The Fifth Mizukage must be pretty powerful."

"See? Women can be powerful too," Sakura stuck her tongue out at him. When Itachi raised his eyebrows, she reminded him of the conversation they'd had about her mother on their first day as a team. Her mother… she could finally return to her family! Sakura didn't think she had ever been so happy in her entire life.

"Thank you, Kakashi-taichō," Sakura said to her team captain when he returned. He looked at her in amazement. "You're thanking me? For abandoning you?"

"You saved our lives by doing that," Sakura reminded him.

"But what if it hadn't turned out this way? I should've trained harder, gotten stronger, so I wouldn't have to rely on other people to protect my own students!"

"Kaka-taichō, the person you had to rely on was a kage; and Kushimaru even had doubts about _her_ being able to defeat the Mist ANBU. You're already the best ninja in the Leaf besides the Hokage herself," Sakura told her captain.

"Well, you're only thirteen and you're on the same squad as me," Kakashi replied. "And Itachi's only fifteen, yet he managed to defeat half of the Mist ANBU in a few seconds."

"Wait," Itachi interjected. He turned to face Sakura. "What did you just call Kakashi-taichō?"

Sakura's lips slowly curved upwards. "Kaka-taichō," she repeated.

Kakashi facepalmed. "See, this is how respected I am."

"No, no," Sakura answered. "Sorry, Taichō. I'm just too excited, that's all."

"Didn't you do that to Anko-san's name as well?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah: you have a good memory," Sakura remarked.

"An-sensei, right? Why do you shorten the name but keep the honourific?" Itachi inquired.

Sakura shrugged. "It's cute but still allows the person to keep their dignity, I guess. I give all of my friends these nicknames." Sakura abruptly grinned evilly at him. "And you're next, Ita-senpai."

Itachi groaned. "Kakashi-taichō, can you please unlock these cuffs so I can get away from her?"

"Are you sure? I mean, you two must have gotten pretty close over these couple of days…" Kakashi trailed off with a smirk.

This time, both of his students groaned. "Just unlock the cuffs, please, Taichō."

"All right, all right," their captain threw his hands into the air. He then proceeded to free Itachi from the cave wall. Itachi stretched, ignoring the fresh blood dripping onto the ground.

Next, it was Sakura's turn. She grinned excitedly at the prospect of being able to move freely for the first time in thirty-six hours.

Kakashi finally managed to unlock the cuffs around Sakura's wrists and ankles after what seemed like forever to her. She laughed in delight, and took a step with her right foot to begin running out of the cave that had been her prison. But suddenly, she felt herself falling into darkness. "Whoa, there," she heard her team captain say, and she felt his arms close around her. The last thing she thought was, _I'm going home_, and a faint smile crossed her face. The traces of it were still there after she had blacked out.

Darkness still greeted Sakura even after she had opened her eyes. She felt around her. The surface beneath her was soft and comfortable, and on top of her was a warm blanket. She wanted to just sink back into unconsciousness, but she had to know where she was.

"Hello?" she whispered. "Is anybody there?" When she received no reply, she yelled, "Hello!" at the top of her lungs.

"Sakura!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "Are you okay? Don't strain yourself!"

But Sakura couldn't help the sobs of relief that racked her chest at her mother's voice. "Kāchan!" she cried.

She was enveloped in the gentlest hug she had ever received from Tsunade. "Welcome home, Sakura," the Hokage murmured in her daughter's ear.

"Home…" Sakura trailed off. "How did I get home?"

"Kakashi-san and your… the Fifth Mizukage-sama brought you and Itachi back," Tsunade answered. Sakura frowned, noticing the slip in her words.

"Kāsan," she addressed her mother, "the ninja who tortured me… he said something about me having the same eyes as the Fifth…"

"Having the same eyes as me?" Tsunade laughed. "Well, of course; isn't that the whole point of you wearing those goggles? Anyway, the Mizukage already left, but I thanked her for you, so you don't have to worry about that."

Sakura looked sideways at her mother. "Kāsan, my goggles are gone. They broke, and everyone saw my real eyes."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Kakashi just proved that he would be a better Hokage than me," Tsunade said in an offhand tone.

Sakura shook her head. "You're a great Hokage, Kāsan. I truly believe that – so you don't have to lie to me." She took in a breath. "Is my father a kage?"

Tsunade sighed. It looked like there was no way for her to beat around the bush anymore. "The Fourth Mizukage," she told her daughter. "That nightmare you've been having is of him."

Sakura's eyebrows knitted together. "So, you didn't tell me about him because… he's a murderer?"

"Sort of," Tsunade replied uncomfortably.

"Then, my real name is…"

"Sakura Hōzuki." The words rang in Sakura's ears. She remembered Kushimaru and Jinpachi mentioning that name, but at the time she hadn't realized that it belonged to her.

"Wait…" Sakura's mind was racing. "The Fourth Mizukage doesn't have green eyes…" She looked up at Tsunade. "So who's my mother?"

"The Fifth Mizukage," Tsunade dropped her gaze. Sakura stared at her. "You're not… my mother…" she whispered in disbelief. "Why…?"

"Your mother…" Tsunade choked a little, but then pushed on. "She wanted you to have a normal life."

"You mean, not as the daughter of a murderer?" Sakura asked.

"Well, partly," Tsunade replied. "But also… not as the jinchūriki of the Six-Tails."

* * *

**So Sakura's actually from the Mist... bet you guys weren't expecting that, huh?**

**I chose the Six-Tails to be her tailed beast because I wanted to show that with hard work, the jinchuuriki of a tailed beast with fewer tails can beat one with more tails. There'll be more on that later.**

Jiraiya: You do that thing to my name, too.

Sakura: Yeah, Jira-sensei!

Jiraiya: *sweatdrops* Can you not?

Sakura: Why does everybody hate it when I nickname them?

Me: *walks in*

Sakura: Neko-chan!

Me: Oh hell no! *runs away*


	7. Chapter 7

**Yooooooo~ I'm here with an early update! :D:D**

**Thanks to Black snake eyes and silverwolfigther00 for reviewing. Glad you guys like it ^^**

* * *

_I'm a monster._ The words swam around in Sakura's head, and she couldn't get them out. _I'm the daughter of a serial killer and the container of a monster._ Not even the company of her best friend could cheer her up. Now there were more lies she would have to tell.

"Sakura, are you all right?" Anko asked her. Sakura forced a smile onto her face. "I told you already, An-sensei: I'm fine." She picked up a skewer of dango, even though she wasn't hungry in the slightest, to prove her point.

"I don't mean physically," Anko told her. "You're only thirteen – it's normal to be traumatized from being tortured."

"Can we just stop talking about it?" Sakura implored.

"Of course," Anko replied. Sakura suddenly grinned cheekily. "Are you sure about that?"

Anko looked at her suspiciously. "Yeah…"

"Well, I heard that you and Kaka-taichō are a thing now," Sakura said, laughing when her best friend turned beet red.

"_What_?" Anko choked. "Who told you that?"

"Kaka-taichō called you Anko-chan," Sakura told her, smirking.

"He did? I'm going to kill him!" Anko raised her fist in the air.

Kakashi, unfortunately for him, happened to choose that moment to walk into the hospital room.

"What on earth is going on?" Itachi, who had been behind Kakashi, pointed at the disappearing figure of Anko, who had nearly trampled him while chasing Kakashi out the room.

Sakura grinned up at him. "I told An-sensei that Kaka-taichō called her Anko-chan."

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that reaction a little overboard?"

"You obviously don't know An-sensei very well," Sakura shook her head mockingly.

"I'm not sure I want to," Itachi commented.

"Hey," Sakura protested in defense of her best friend. "She's actually really nice when you get to know her."

"Yeah; just like you're completely and utterly honest," Itachi retorted sarcastically. Sakura bit her lip. _Ouch_.

"I think you have some explaining to do, Sakura," Itachi said, pointing to her new goggles. When she stayed silent, he suggested, "Or I could just put you under a genjutsu and force an explanation out of you."

Sakura calculated her chances of escape. In her condition, they were extremely slim: especially because Itachi was already faster than her to begin with. She sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Fine; I'll tell you," she muttered.

Itachi looked at her expectantly. She weighed the options of which story to give him. If she told him the one that she had believed for thirteen years, her mother – no, her guardian – might lose her job. But if she told him the truth, she could be putting the entire world in danger. She knew that the Uchiha were capable of controlling tailed beasts with their Sharingan: they were thought to have been behind the Nine-Tails attack seven years ago. If Sakura told Itachi that she contained the Six-Tails, his clan might try to seize control over it, and a similar or even worse event could happen.

She took a deep breath and began another lie.

Itachi's expression remained neutral the whole time she was talking, so she couldn't gauge how well he was taking the news about his Hokage, or whether he even believed her for that matter. But when she finished, he amazed her by saying, "What Hokage-sama did… it's understandable. People think that ninja just go around beating bad guys up; but it's not like that. You have to kill people with futures, with families. It's no wonder that people like Kakashi-taichō's father commit suicide."

Sakura's jaw dropped in horror. "Kaka-taichō's father committed suicide?"

Itachi nodded. "Sakumo Hatake: didn't you know?"

"No: my mother locked all of Kaka-taichō's files away and she never told me anything about his past," Sakura replied.

"Your mother, on the whole, is a good person," Itachi murmured. "I won't tell anyone what happened."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Really?" she held her breath, unable to believe that she had heard him correctly. When he nodded, she threw her arms around him. "Thank you so much, Ita-senpai!"

A tick mark appeared on Itachi's forehead. "Don't call me that." Sakura just chuckled.

The emptiness in her heart had lifted a little.

* * *

Sakura plopped down onto a chair and wiped the sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve. That had been a tough surgery to perform, but she and her team had pulled it off.

Ever since her true lover, Dan Katō, had died from blood loss, Tsunade had become a hemophobic. So she had gotten one of the senior medical-nin, Sukui, to train Sakura to perform operations.

Sakura was not a natural at using the scalpel: or any weapon, for that matter. She had practiced hard and her precision improved greatly, but she would never be as skilled as Sukui. However, her real talent for operations lay in her ability to calm her patients. The worst part of surgeries for them was always the fear. Sakura and Tsunade's anesthetics could erase any physical pain, but it was natural that patients would be scared of knives cutting into their bodies. The empathetic, reassuring aura around Sakura always managed to comfort them.

Even though she was an extremely powerful ninja, Sakura was really at home in the hospital. She loved helping her fellow countrymen by healing them, and in truth hated going out and killing others herself. It was as Itachi had said: "You have to kill people with futures; with families." Sakura wasn't suited to ANBU in the slightest: the only reason the Hokage had placed her there was because they needed medics who could also fight. And Tsunade knew that the darkness of ANBU wouldn't be able to crush Sakura's strong spirit.

She wondered whether she had gotten her talent for medicine from her mother or her father. Then she sighed and got up from her chair. She wouldn't accomplish anything by sitting around pondering all day.

She was strolling over to the front desk to see if there was anything that she could help with, when she bumped into her captain. "Ah, Kaka-taichō! Did An-sensei get you again?" she teased him.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at his hyperactive student. "For the record, she never did," he stated. "Anyways," he continued quickly, before Sakura could reply, "Your mother wants to see you. You've got a mission. Think you're up for it?"

_She's not my mother_, Sakura screamed silently, but what came out of her mouth was, "Depends on when it is. I just finished a really big operation."

"Oh. Well, Godaime-sama always gives you a while's notice if she can, so it shouldn't be starting too soon. But you'd better get over to the Hokage building just in case," Kakashi suggested.

"Hai." Sakura body-flickered away.

She popped out in a puff of smoke outside the Hokage office, and raised a fist to knock on the door. "Come in," she heard Tsunade's muffled voice say.

"Tsunade-sensei, it's me," Sakura announced. Tsunade flinched at the new title she had been given, but pushed on. "I have a mission for you, Sakura," she told her student. "Are you feeling up for it?"

"When is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's every night starting from tomorrow and ending when the Fire Daimyō gets back, which will probably be about a few weeks later. The mission is guarding his cat," Tsunade replied.

Sakura realized that her teacher was giving her an easy mission that wouldn't strain her too much, but one that involved important people, so that she would feel like she was doing something useful. She appreciated the thought, and wondered why she had never noticed these little acts of kindness before. _It's because I don't use my head enough_, Sakura concluded. _I blindly trust people. That's my greatest weakness. But… Tsunade-sensei lied to me for my own good. So maybe trusting isn't so naïve_.

She took in a breath. "It's only noon, so can we talk?" she asked her teacher.

"Of course," Tsunade smiled weakly.

"Can you tell me everything you know about my parents?"

Tsunade closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them with an idea. "Your mother… do you want to see what she looks like?" she asked her student.

"Yes," Sakura breathed.

Tsunade opened a drawer beside her desk with one of the many keys from her key ring. Inside were the files of the five kage, among others. She pulled out Mei Uzumaki's and handed it to Sakura. "There's a picture inside."

Sakura opened the folder, holding her breath.

The first thing that greeted her was the sight of shocking green eyes, the exact same colour as hers. Then she saw her mother's hair: it was auburn red and flowed in a herringbone pattern down to her ankles.

"Wait: why is my hair pink?" Sakura asked Tsunade.

"It has to do with the Six-Tails," Tsunade explained. Sakura clenched her teeth at the name of the monster inside of her, but kept listening. "Babies that become jinchūriki while they are still in their mothers' stomachs always have birthmarks characteristic to their tailed beasts. The Six-Tails' specialty is acid. Your hair would have been red, but the acid bleached it to pink."

Sakura tried to picture herself with red hair, but couldn't. She looked back to her mother's file, and gently pulled the photo out, setting it aside so she could read all of the information.

"She's good at taijutsu," Sakura smiled to herself. "She can use earth, fire and water release… so that's where I got my water release from."

"She also has two bloodline limits," Tsunade said, "lava release and boil release."

Sakura looked up at her. "Does that mean I can use those too?"

"Lava release combines fire and earth, and boil release combines fire and water. You'd have to learn how to control fire and earth before you could use those techniques," Tsunade told Sakura. "But since you have them in your blood, you probably won't find it that hard too learn them."

"Could you teach me them?" Sakura asked her teacher. Tsunade shook her head. "I don't know how myself. You'd have to ask your mother for that."

Sakura bit her lip anxiously. "Can I meet her?"

Tsunade smiled at her. "Of course you can. From that last mission, you've definitely shown enough proficiency to become my personal guard. So the next time the Mist and Leaf have to meet, you can come along."

"What's my mother like in terms of personality?" Sakura asked.

"She's a lot like you," Tsunade told her. "She's very cheerful, but she gets really mad if you say anything negative about her love life. I think that's just a façade to hide her pain about your father, though."

Sakura clenched her fists. "And… what information is there on him?"

Tsunade studied her for a moment, and then decided that she was ready. She turned back to the drawer with the kage's files and pulled out Yagura Hōzuki's. "This is all we know about the Fourth Mizukage," she said, careful not to use the term 'your father' with Sakura.

"Yagura Hōzuki," Sakura whispered. "He… he was a jinchūriki as well?"

Tsunade nodded. "The Three-Tails."

"Is that why I'm one?" Sakura inquired.

Tsunade thought for a moment. "No, it's more due to the fact that you're related to a kage. Most jinchūriki are, because that makes them less likely to turn on the village."

"And… my mother let this happen to me?" Sakura asked quietly.

Tsunade shook her head vehemently. "Your mother had no idea until it happened. Your father originally was a good man, until he became Mizukage: corrupted by power, most likely. When the previous jinchūriki of the Six-Tails died, he sealed it into you. That would allow you to have better control of its power, because its chakra would intertwine with yours while you were still developing. It nearly killed your mother, though."

Sakura had to restrain herself from smashing her fist through her teacher's desk, as Tsunade herself had done so many times, causing Sakura to have to replace it. "And how did he die?"

"He got too ambitious and let his tailed beast out too far, and it killed him. Unfortunately, the Three-Tails was reborn near the Akatsuki, and they got ahold of it," Tsunade lamented.

"Akatsuki?" Sakura asked, sitting up straight. She had heard her teacher mention the name before, but when she asked about it, Tsunade had refused to tell her anything. But apparently she now thought that Sakura should know.

"It's a criminal organization whose goal is to collect all of the tailed beasts," Tsunade explained. "They only have the Three-Tails so far, but their organization is growing, and they're becoming more powerful."

"Isn't somebody trying to stop them?" Sakura inquired.

"Jiraiya is," Tsunade replied. "Two Akatsuki members were his former students."

Sakura gasped. "That's horrible."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "All of the Akatsuki members of cold-hearted murderers. That's why your mother wanted to hide you from them."

Sakura put her head in her hands. "I don't know whether to be grateful to her or angry that she gave me up."

"Be grateful," Tsunade told her gently. "She gave you up for your own good. It wasn't easy for her, either."

"I know," Sakura sighed. Then she smiled up at her teacher. "But… you've been the one who looked after me, raised me and taught me everything that I know. So, thank you for that, Tsunade-sensei."

* * *

**Yes, Sakura's part Uzumaki. You'll find out how later.**

Me and Sakura: KakaAnko ftw! *runs away before Kakashi or Anko can catch us*

Anko: Sakura, Neko, get back here this instant! *chases after us*

Kakashi: *sweatdrops* Why me...?


	8. Chapter 8

**Ahhh thanks so much to silverwolfigther00 for all your reviews! You're awesome 3**

* * *

"I'll be going now," Jiraiya called back over his shoulder to his wife and student. But Sakura suddenly grabbed his arm. "Don't go, Jiraiya-sensei," she pleaded. "It's dangerous."

Jiraiya let out a falsely hearty laugh at that. "It might be dangerous if you or your mother were there, but they're just a bunch of civilian girls," he lied, implying that he was going to the hot springs to placate her.

"No, they're a bunch of S-ranked criminals," she retorted. "Please, sensei: don't go after the Akatsuki."

"If I've come back all of these years, why should today be any different?" Jiraiya shrugged.

"Because I know about it. I'm not going to willingly let you die," Sakura told him fiercely.

Jiraiya smiled faintly. "I'm not going to die, Saku-chan."

"You're going up against people who managed to tame a tailed beast!"

"I know: and I have to stop them before they get yours, too," Jiraiya replied.

Unable to bear the thought that it would be her fault if her guardian died, Sakura turned desperately to Tsunade for help. "Tsunade-sensei, you can't just let him go like that!"

"It's just an reconnaissance mission. I've sent you on more dangerous ones," Tsunade stated, but the fact that she pulled out a bottle of sake betrayed how much she truly cared.

Jiraiya grinned. "If you're going to stop me from completing this mission, then I guess I'll have to put you on a genin team. I am still your legal guardian, after all."

Sakura ground her teeth in frustration. It was true that if Jiraiya managed to stop the Akatsuki, he could be saving the entire world. But he meant the world to her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. A familiar voice stated, "Itachi Uchiha reporting. I have a message from the head of the Uchiha clan."

Tsunade got up from her desk to open the door. "Could you possibly come back later, Itachi-san?" she asked.

"Hai," Itachi bowed to her and body-flickered away. But when she and Sakura, who had been distracted, turned back, Jiraiya had already escaped out the open door.

* * *

Sakura was distracting herself by trying to remember the song that had come to her while she was unconscious in that cave in the Mist. She realized that it must have been her mother singing it: the owner the voice had called herself 'Kāchan'. Her mother had a beautiful voice, and Sakura wondered whether she did as well.

"Wild flower blossoming

I beg of you, tell me this so I know too.

Why do people fight?

They all act as if it's right

Don't they know

That's no

Way to live?"

But that was all Sakura could remember.

She was thinking when the door to her room opened and Tsunade ambled in. She frowned when she realized that her teacher was drunk again.

"Come on, let's get you to bed, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura gently placed her hands on the Hokage's shoulders and turned her back around to face the doorway.

But Tsunade, reacting negatively to the title or Sakura's control, jerked away and clumsily swung her fist around towards her student's face. Sakura ducked and attempted to get past her to the anesthetics in the medical room, but she was blocking the doorway. Sakura's room was too small for her to draw Tsunade out of the doorway and then get out. She was really stuck here.

Then she had an idea. She could use Tsunade's fear of blood against her and make her pass out that way. But it would have to be a lot of blood…

_I'll do it myself_, Sakura decided. _That way, I'll have more control. I'll do it on my left hand, so it won't affect my techniques that much._

Sakura leapt around in random directions to give her enough time to pull out one of her surgical tools, and plunge it down into the back of her left hand. The blood splattered onto Tsunade, who almost immediately crumpled to the floor.

Unfortunately, Itachi chose that moment to come knocking on the door again.

"Itachi Uchiha reporting back with a message from the head of the Uchiha clan."

Sakura echoed her mother's words: "Could you possibly come back later, Itachi-san?"

Except this time, Itachi's reply was: "Forgive me for intruding, but this is an urgent matter."

Sakura swore under her breath. She opened the door, but only a crack, hiding her left hand behind her back. "My mother's not feeling well right now," she told her teammate. "Can I take a message?"

"Well… I suppose so. Tell Hokage-sama that my father is going to a meeting with the Fire Daimyō, so he'll be away for the next couple of…" Itachi trailed off when he saw blood dripping from Sakura onto the ground. She tried to cover the droplets with her foot, but he had already spotted them. "Sakura, are you bleeding?" he asked.

"Oh, no," she shook her head. "I just came back from a surgery and didn't have time to clean up yet, that's all." She pulled out the bloody surgical tool she had used on herself from her weapons pouch, and held it up. "See?"

"Then why are you hiding it?" Itachi inquired.

Sakura faked a laugh. "What are you talking about? I'm not hiding anything."

"Then let me see that hand you're hiding behind your back," Itachi replied.

"Okay," Sakura shrugged, and showed him bloodstained palm. But when he grabbed it, she couldn't help yelping a little. He turned it over and saw her wound, his eyes widening.

"Sakura, are you turning suicidal?" he demanded.

"No!" Sakura shook her head vehemently. "It was an accident! But I knew you would think that, so I lied about it," she lied yet again. But Itachi wasn't an ANBU for nothing.

"I don't believe you," he told her. "You're coming with me."

"What? Where?" Sakura demanded.

"To the hospital," Itachi stated.

"But… my mother…"

"She's the Hokage: she can look after herself," Itachi replied.

Sakura sighed. "Actually… she's kind of passed out."

"Why?" Itachi inquired. Then it dawned on him. "Wait… like that time…?"

Sakura dropped her gaze and nodded.

"Well, then, it's not safe for you to be around her," Itachi said. Sakura stared at him for a moment. He had caught her lying again, yet he wasn't angry at all. In fact, he seemed genuinely concerned for her well-being.

Itachi continued, "I'll have a clone escort you into the Uchiha district, while I stay here in case your mother wakes up."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. She hated to be so distrustful of people, especially her teammates. But she knew that a Senju, or supposed one, definitely did not belong in the Uchiha district. "How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Think about it: how could I have planned this out beforehand?"

Sakura sighed. That was true. "Okay, I'll go," she told her teammate.

He made a hand seal in reply. "Crow Clone no Jutsu."

"Let's go," Itachi's clone said to Sakura.

"'Kay," Sakura replied. She and the clone both made the same hand seal, and with a, "Body Flicker no Jutsu!", they disappeared.

The sight of an Uchiha and a Senju suddenly appearing just outside the Uchiha district caused quite a stir. Sakura could feel the stares of Itachi's clanmates boring into her as his clone explained to the guards that she was his teammate, and that they wanted to work on a technique together.

The guards didn't keep them there for long: Sakura could tell that, even within his own clan, Itachi was a feared ninja. She wondered whether she would be feared as well if she acted more like him.

But there were still people who weren't afraid of Itachi. "Hey, 'Tachi!" a boy who looked a few years older than Sakura's teammate slapped Itachi's clone on the shoulder. "You finally got a girlfriend!"

"We're just teammates," Sakura and Itachi's clone both stated simultaneously.

"Oh, so future girlfriend," the boy teased.

"In the future you'll have a black eye if you say the word 'girlfriend' one more time," Sakura glared at him.

The boy just grinned. "Kidding." Then he stuck out his hand. "Shisui Uchiha. Nice to officially meet you, Senju-sama."

Sakura took it, returning his grin. She wasn't one to hold grudges for very long. "You too, Shisui-senpai. And just call me Sakura. You don't seem the formal type, anyway."

"Neither do you," Shisui retorted.

Sakura had to laugh at that. "I call Itachi 'Ita-senpai'."

Shisui snorted. "Ita-senpai?"

Itachi's clone face-palmed. "Don't give him any ideas."

"Too late, Ita-kun," Shisui smirked.

"Okay, we're going now," the clone grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her away from his best friend.

They stopped in front of a building with Uchiwa fans painted in a straight line across the walls. "This is my house," Itachi's clone said.

Sakura bit her lip as she stared at the door. "Is… is your father here?"

"No, he went to his meeting with the Fire Daimyō already," he replied. "Hokage-sama wanted me to tell her beforehand, but he had to leave before she was available."

"Ah, I see… and the rest of your family?"

"My mother and little brother are home. But don't worry, they're… more accepting than my father," Itachi's clone reassured her. He then proceeded to open the door.

"Okāsan, Sasuke, I'm home!" he announced. A little boy who greatly resembled Itachi bounded out of the room, calling, "Nīsan!"

Then he stopped and stared at Sakura. "Who's that?"

"Manners, Sasuke," Itachi chided him gently.

Sakura grinned and bent down so that she was at Sasuke's eye level. He looked to be about seven or eight years old. "Hi, I'm Sakura; your onīsan's teammate. It's nice to meet you, Sasuke-san."

A beautiful, raven-haired woman, who must have been Itachi's mother, entered the room at that moment. She bowed to Sakura. "Senju-sama, what can I do for you?"

Sakura returned the gesture. "Itachi-senpai and I just wanted to work on a technique together, if that's all right with you, Uchiha-sama."

"Of course," Itachi's mother replied. "And please, just call me Mikoto."

"Then you can just call me Sakura, Mikoto-san," Sakura smiled.

"All right, I won't get in your guys' way any more," Mikoto said. "Come on, let's go, Sasuke."

"Okay," Sasuke answered, and he left the room with his mother.

Itachi's clone beckoned to Sakura. "Come upstairs to my room."

Sakura grinned. "I'm curious to see what it looks like."

The clone shrugged. "It's nothing special."

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "Why did I expect anything different?"

When they reached the room, Itachi's clone told her, "I'm going to go check with my original. You take this time to heal yourself."

"Hai, Shishō," Sakura replied cheekily. The clone rolled its eyes and made a hand seal.

"Wait – Itachi? Or his clone?" Sakura called.

"Yes?" the clone raised its eyebrows.

"Thank you," Sakura smiled.

"You're welcome," the clone replied, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

In the Hokage building, Itachi smiled to himself. He didn't mind doing all of these things for Sakura in the slightest. She had been so brave on that mission… and she had quite possibly saved his life. Itachi may have seemed cold and distant, but he didn't forget things like that.

* * *

Me: Aww, Ita-kun!

Itachi: *glares* Shut up.

Me: *cries*

Sakura: Itachi Uchiha... *cracks knuckles threateningly*

Itachi: *rapidly bows* Please forgive me.


	9. Chapter 9

**No reviews this whole time I was gone? D': Ah well thx for all of the favs/follows so far! I'm so happy I got favourited as a writer. That means a lot to me! ^^**

**Here begins the string of fluffy ItaSaku chapters! Enjoy them while they last, because there won't be many more to come :/**

* * *

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Mikoto-san," Sakura bowed to Itachi's mother on her way out of his house.

"Oh no, you're welcome to come any time," Mikoto smiled at her. "I expect you back sometime soon, Sakura-san," she winked, and closed the front door.

Sakura frowned. Something about Mikoto's tone hadn't been right. "What did she mean by that?" she asked Itachi, whose face was red. He just shrugged.

Sakura's medical-nin instincts set in. "Ita-senpai, are you okay? Your face is really red, do you have a fever?" she reached her hand out to feel his forehead.

"I'm fine," Itachi jerked away from her. "Let's get going."

"Okay!" Sakura grinned, and skipped ahead.

Itachi shook his head as he started walking. Why did his face feel so warm at his mother's comment?

Sakura abruptly took a right turn. "Hey, Sakura, aren't we going to the Fire Daimyō's palace?" Itachi called.

"I want to check up on my mother first," Sakura replied. "Can you go on ahead without me?"

"Yeah, sure," Itachi answered, and they parted ways.

When she reached the Hokage building Sakura was, of course, admitted immediately. She rushed up the stairs to her teacher's office and knocked on the door. "Tsunade-sensei, it's me," she called.

The door opened, and Sakura found herself enveloped in a hug. "Sakura, I'm so sorry," Tsunade was actually shaking. "I'll never drink again, I promise you."

Sakura smiled. "Well, if I could do that for you, then I'm happy," she told her guardian.

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt tears dripping onto her shoulder. Tsunade quickly pulled away, trying to hide them. "So, um; how did the Uchiha treat you?"

"They were great," Sakura replied. "Everyone was really nice."

Tsunade grinned. "Then I have no problem with you going off with Itachi-kun."

"Wait – _what_?!" Sakura practically screeched.

She decided to leave for her mission after Tsunade started laughing at her. _There is no way I'm going to tell her that Itachi is coming with me_, she thought to herself.

* * *

"Hey," Sakura greeted her teammate as she appeared beside him.

"Hn," Itachi replied. Sakura rolled her eyes. He had such odd mood swings.

Then she noticed a cat flopped down on the grass, looking dead. She gasped. "Ita-senpai, did you kill the Daimyō's cat?!"

"No!" Itachi insisted. "I just used genjutsu to get it to fall asleep."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Why, might I ask?"

"That thing's evil," Itachi spat. "It tried to claw my eyes out."

Sakura giggled. "Has the great Itachi Uchiha made an enemy in a cat?" she teased. Itachi just ignored her.

After a moment of silence, Sakura murmured, "Thanks for coming on this mission with me."

"Actually, I kind of wanted to train with you," Itachi replied.

"Okay," Sakura answered. "Sparring session?"

Itachi nodded. "But we probably shouldn't do it in the Daimyō's backyard…"

"Oh, yeah," Sakura scratched the back of her head. "But what are we going to do about the cat?"

"Bring it with us?" Itachi suggested.

"Okay," Sakura replied.

They body-flickered over to the training area where they had met their team captain and the Water Daimyō, at the start of their first mission together.

"Clone no Jutsu!" Sakura heard a boy's voice yell. She peered into the darkness, and saw the shadow of a child making a seal; but he was alone. "Clone no Jutsu!" he shouted again, and this time, another shadow appeared, but it was oddly shaped: when Sakura looked closer, she saw that it was crumpled on the floor.

Despite his clear lack of skill, Sakura had to admire such a young child for coming out and training at night. "One second," she told Itachi, and jogged over to the boy.

"Hey there, do you need any help?" she called out. The boy turned and looked at her. "Nah, I don't need help from a kid!" he replied cheekily.

"Oi, who are you calling a kid?" a tick mark appeared on Sakura's forehead. "I bet I'm way older than you!"

"Well, I'm twelve; how old are you?" the boy shot back.

"Shannarō! I'm thirteen!" Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, definitely not acting as if she were much older.

"'Shannarō?'" the boy repeated. He peered closer at her, and then jumped back in surprise. "Ahh! You're the Hokage's daughter!"

"'Ahh'?" Sakura asked. "Am I that scary?"

"No!" the boy quickly backtracked. "I mean – I'm sorry I argued with you! So please don't kill me!"

Sakura giggled. "Had a run-in with my mother before, have you? It's okay, I'm not going to kill you. But, now that you know who I am, will you accept my offer of help?"

"Are you really going to help me?" the boy's eyes went wide. "Wow, thank you!"

"No problem," Sakura replied. "By the way, what's your name?"

The boy hesitated. "Umm…"

"Forgot?" Sakura teased him.

"No," the boy shook his head. "I just don't want you to think that… that I'm a monster."

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Why in Kami-sama's name would I think that?"

"Because… I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The boy hung his head, as if waiting to be yelled at.

But Sakura didn't notice his reaction: she was too startled by his surname. "Uzumaki?" she whispered. "Are you related to me?"

"Am I – wait, what?" Naruto snorted. "Me, being related to the Hokage! Ha!"

"Who are your parents, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Apparently they were civilians. No one related to the Hokage, that's for sure."

"Apparently?" Then it dawned on her. "Oh… I'm sorry. Forget I asked. Um, let's start working on that clone technique of yours, okay?"

"Sure," Naruto agreed.

"Let me see you do it," Sakura told him.

"Clone no Jutsu!" he yelled in reply. The result was the same as the time before: he only managed to produce one, deformed clone.

From what Naruto had told her, Sakura thought she knew what his problem was. It wasn't so much as a problem with his skill as with his mentality.

"Naruto, do you remember your parents at all?" she asked him.

"No. They both died on the day that I was born," he answered.

"Oh… then do you have a memory that makes you feel happy?"

"Hmm…" The fact that he had to think about it broke Sakura's heart.

But as it turned out, he did have good memories. "Oh, I know! I'm happy when I get to eat ramen and spend time with the old man and Ayame-chan!"

Sakura smiled. "Okay; then focus on recreating all of the good memories, and forget about any pain you've been through."

"All right! I've got this!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air. Sakura had to admire his cheerfulness.

"Clone no Jutsu!" he shouted, and this time he managed to create one perfect clone. "Yeah!" he danced around in triumph while Sakura applauded.

She turned back to see what Itachi was doing. He was throwing shuriken at a tree. Of course, all of them thudded right next to each other in a perfect vertical line.

Sakura was suddenly struck with an idea. "Hey, Naruto, do you want to see what a real ninja fight looks like?"

"Sure!" the boy agreed enthusiastically.

"Wait here," Sakura told him, and then body-flickered over to where Itachi was standing. "Want to spar now, Ita-senpai?" she asked him.

"Yeah, sure," he replied.

Sakura's lips spread slowly into a grin, and she pumped her fist into the air. "Shannarō! Bring it on, Uchiha!" Then she charged at Itachi, and punched the area where he had just been standing. The ground split and pieces flew everywhere. "Sugoi dattebayo!" Sakura heard Naruto exclaim, and grinned.

Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. She wasn't fast enough to turn around and punch Itachi, so she just jumped out of the way as quickly as she could. She then bent out of the way as several shuriken were launched at her.

_I have to use my long-distance water release techniques if I want to catch him_, Sakura thought. _But I have to wait until he's distracted, or he'll just predict my movements with his Sharingan_.

She saw a gigantic fireball coming towards her, which was the perfect moment, since water was strong against fire. She doused the fireball, and then fired another jet of water right afterwards, which sliced Itachi in half.

Then the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Damn it," Sakura muttered as she tried to feel Itachi's chakra. But her senses were clouded. She felt drowsy all of a sudden. She wanted to sleep…

_No_. She snapped herself awake by yelling, "Kai!" dispelling the genjutsu.

She looked around. _Left… no. Right… no. In front of me… no. Behind me… no. Above me… no. So that means…_

"Below, shannarō!" she shouted, and punched the ground beneath her as hard as she could. A rift about a kilometre long tore through the ground, creating an actual cliff. Itachi jumped out from it, genuinely shocked for one of the first times in his life. _That power is inhuman_, he thought.

He had no idea that there was an actual monster living inside of his teammate.

* * *

**Sorry, I suck at writing fight scenes orz**

**Anyways, ah, Itachi-chan and Sakura-chan are so innocent XD**

Both: What's that supposed to mean?

Me: *whistles while smirking* Nothing...


	10. Chapter 10

**GORE-TEX.**

**Lol don't mind me, inside joke.**

**Ahhhh so many reviews! ^^ Thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes, StarKiss666, and silverwolfigther00 once again. Actually, Sakura and Naruto will end up on the same team eventually. You'll see how later.**

**So here's chapter 10! Yeah, I've reached 10 chapters! For a perfectionist like me who edits everything like five times as she's writing, that's pretty impressive!**

* * *

Naruto watched Sakura and Itachi sparring. He was still in disbelief that two such high-ranking ninja were even bothering to talk to him, let alone waste their time trying to help him. He would be forever grateful to them.

But something was nagging at him. Sakura's reaction at his name had been… unusual, that was for sure. Most people fled at the mention of that name, but Sakura… she had thought that he could have been related to her.

Naruto snorted. _In your dreams_, he told himself. There was no way an idiot like him could be related to two Sannin and one of the top three ANBU in the village.

Suddenly, his thoughts were broken by a shriek. He stood up immediately after he recognized the voice as Sakura's, and then relaxed as he heard Itachi laugh and he heard Sakura say, "Screw you, cat!"*

"Sakura-senpai, are you okay? What happened?" Naruto rushed over to her, as Itachi chased after the Fire Daimyō's cat, which had started to run away.

Sakura, stomach-down on the ground, grinned up at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. That cat just woke up and I tripped over it, that's all."

"Where did that cat even come from?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, right. I'm on a mission to look after it," Sakura explained. Naruto raised his eyebrows. "I thought ANBU got cooler missions that that."

Sakura laughed. "Usually we do. But I just got out of the hospital, so I'm doing an easy mission to get back into my rhythm."

"Itachi, too?" Naruto asked.

Sakura answered carefully, "Yes, he was on that same mission that put us both into the hospital."

"But I noticed that you said, '_I'm_ on a mission to look after it'. So why's Itachi here? I'm sure you don't need two ANBU to look after a cat…" Naruto trailed off with a smirk.

"I-Itachi's my teammate! I just wanted to spar with him, that's all!" Sakura defended herself vehemently.

"Sakura, what are you yelling about?" Itachi chose this inconvenient moment to return with a limp cat in his arms.

"N-nothing!" Sakura immediately snapped to attention. Itachi raised his eyebrows but otherwise decided to let the matter slip, setting the cat down.

"Anyways, that doesn't count. You didn't really beat me," Sakura insisted. Itachi rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. Next time, then."

"Oh, so you're planning on coming again, Ita-senpai?" Naruto teased.

Itachi facepalmed. "That nickname is spreading like a virus," he muttered. Sakura grinned. "You're welcome, Ita-senpai!"

Itachi quickly turned away to Naruto. "Hey, Naruto, it's getting late. Aren't your –"

Sakura realized that he was about to say 'parents' and rapidly jabbed her elbow into his ribs, making him double over and gasp for breath. Then she turned to Naruto with a smile on her face. "Would you like me to walk you home, Naru-chan?"

"Sure, thanks!" Naruto's face visibly brightened at her words. "Wait, but what about the cat?" Itachi demanded.

"You can watch it for a while, can't you?" Sakura asked him. When she saw that he was about to protest, she stuck her face near his and cracked her knuckles. "Please?"

"F-fine," Itachi backed away, startled at their sudden closeness. Sakura stepped back and grinned. "Arigatō, senpai!" Then she skipped away with Naruto.

Why did Itachi find his eyes narrowing when he looked at Naruto's retreating back?

* * *

"Nee, Sakura-senpai?" Naruto asked.

"Yes?" Sakura replied.

"Are you and Itachi-senpai gonna come back?"

"I don't know about Itachi, but my mission lasts for about three weeks," Sakura answered.

"Okay!" Naruto gave her a grin so wide it nearly split his face. Then it faltered when he heard voices yelling a word that he had become all too familiar with now.

"Bakemono!"**

Sakura turned, and saw a band of adults rushing towards them with knives in their hands. She shoved Naruto behind her and pulled out her sword. Then she ran straight into the crowd, slicing each weapon cleanly in half.

"Whoa, Sakura, what are you doing?" Sakura felt a hand close around her wrist. The gang of adults backed away now. "Hokage-sama!"

While they were distracted, Naruto began to flee. Tsunade saw him then, and frowned at the group of adults. "Were you all attacking Naruto just now?"

"B-but, Hokage-sama, he's a monster!" a man accused.

"No, he's not!" anger flashed in Tsunade's eyes. "He's a hero who saved the village from that monster!"

"What?" Sakura was completely lost.

"I'll explain it to you at home," Tsunade told her. "Come on, let's go."

"O-okay," Sakura replied, following her mother back to the Hokage building.

When they arrived at the Hokage's office, Tsunade shut the door behind them and sat down with a sigh. Sakura stood, waiting patiently.

Finally, Tsunade began, "You know about the Nine-Tails that nearly destroyed this village seven years ago."

Sakura nodded.

"And you know that the Fourth Hokage sealed it away."

"Yes…" Sakura still had no idea where this was going, and what this had to do with the energetic blond boy she had met that night. But Tsunade's next statement dropped a bomb on her.

"He didn't seal it inside a scroll."

Sakura gasped. "He sealed it inside… a human?"

Tsunade nodded gravely.

"But – that's so cruel!" Sakura protested. "He took an orphan, because orphans are expendable?"

"Naruto wasn't an orphan at that time," Tsunade replied. "He only became one after the Fourth and Kushina-san sacrificed their lives to protect their village."

Sakura's eyes widened even further, if that was possible. "So that means that Naruto's the Fourth Hokage's son?" Then she paused. "Wait… the Fourth's surname is Namikaze… but Naruto said that his is Uzumaki."

"Naruto's mother is from the Uzumaki clan," Tsunade explained. "Kushina… she's your mother's sister."

Sakura eyes widened. "So then, Naruto's my cousin?" Tsunade nodded.

"Can I tell him?" Sakura asked her eagerly. But Tsunade shook her head. "Think of the danger you'd be putting him in by telling him who you really are. And also, don't tell him that he's a jinchūriki."

"Wait – he doesn't know?"

"No. He already feels bad enough about himself, don't you think?" Tsunade asked.

"But he's a hero! He saved the entire world!"

Tsunade smiled sadly. "You've met Naruto, haven't you? Do you think he'll think of it that way, especially with the villagers treating him like he's the Nine-Tails?"

Sakura clenched her fists. "How could the Fourth do that to his own son?"

"Minato-san had faith in his son," Tsunade answered. "He believed that Naruto could handle the Nine-Tails. Just as I put you in danger every day by enrolling you in ANBU: but I know that there are very few people as capable of defending yourself and the village as you."

"But that's different!" Sakura countered. "The Fourth condemned Naruto to a life of misery! I asked him if he had any happy memories, and he actually had to think about it!"

Tsunade bowed her head. "The Fourth thought that his people would be able to recognize Naruto for the hero he was, taking on such a monster in order to save them. But they just can't see past the fact that the Nine-Tails lives inside of him."

Sakura shook her head in disappointment. "I expected more of the people of this village." Then she turned to the door. "I have to go back to my mission now."

"I love you, you know, Sakura," Tsunade surprised Sakura with these words. Sakura turned back to her and smiled. "I love you, too, Tsunade-sensei." With that, she exited the room.

* * *

"You were gone for a really long time," Itachi grumbled when Sakura returned to the training ground. She scratched the back of her head and grinned. "Ah, sorry, Ita-senpai."

"Hn. I'm going to go to sleep now," was Itachi's reply.

"Aww," Sakura pouted, but she sat down and took the Fire Daimyō's cat into her lap.

After a while of silence, Sakura became aware of a song playing in her head. It was her mother's. She softly began to sing it.

Itachi had almost fallen asleep, when Sakura's voice cut into the dreamlike fog in his head. He was about to shush her, but her voice was so pretty. So he just lay there listening to it for a while, until it lulled him back to sleep again.

* * *

**Itachi's jealous... of Sakura's cousin! XD**

***Anyone get the KagePro reference? lol Hibiya didn't actually say "Screw you, cat", the translation was wrong XP but oh well.**

****'Bakemono' means monster in Japanese.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes for reviewing! Glad you like it! ^^**

**More music and ItaSaku in this chapter! Unfortunately, this will probably be the last fluffy one :(**

* * *

"Sakura-senpai!" Sakura heard Naruto call out to her as she approached the training field. "Hey, Naruto!" she replied, ruffling his hair.

"Yo, Ita-senpai," she called to Itachi, who responded with his typical, "Hn." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Nee, nee, Sakura-senpai, guess what?" Naruto jumped up and down with excitement.

"What?" Sakura asked, laughing affectionately at his enthusiasm.

"I like someone!" Naruto burst out. Sakura was so startled that she didn't notice Itachi stiffen beside her.

"Oh? Who's the lucky girl?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"Yamanaka Ino-chan!" Naruto grinned. Itachi inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but outwardly groaned. "The fangirl who works at the flower shop?"

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "She's actually really nice! I saw her defend Chōji from bullies!"

"Good luck with her, Naru-chan," Sakura grinned at him.

"Thanks!" Naruto grinned back, and then paused. "Wait… Naru-chan?"

Sakura chuckled at his reaction. "Shouldn't you have expected this sooner or later, with me calling Itachi 'Ita-senpai'?"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I guess I should have expected something like that from you."

"Hey – what's that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded. Naruto just laughed and ran off, calling behind him, "I'm gonna go practice my Clone Technique!"

Sakura shrugged and turned to Itachi. "Is it okay if we don't spar today? I have to start working at the hospital again tomorrow, and I want to be well-rested in case there's an emergency," she explained. It was the last day of her mission guarding the Fire Daimyō's cat. She found that she was going to miss spending the nights with her friends. Despite her sunny, cheerful attitude, she had never had much time for friends, besides Anko.

_But it's not like you'll never see them again_, Sakura told herself. _I can visit Naruto at the Academy whenever I want, since I'm… well… I'm supposed to be the Hokage's daughter. And I'll probably have more missions with Itachi_…

"Sure," Itachi's voice broke into her thoughts.

"You can go home if you want," Sakura told him, but she was secretly hoping that he wouldn't.

"I think I'll train here by myself, actually," Itachi replied. Sakura smiled. "Okay."

Itachi took the targets that he had brought and set them up around the training ground. He then leapt into the air and threw his kunai in the sequence that he had practiced so many times. He heard the familiar sounds of the knives bouncing off of each other and thudding into the targets.

And then he heard one thud into the grass.

He frowned as he landed and went to check each target to see where the kunai had hit them. When he reached the fifth one, his eyes widened when he realized that he had missed the target completely.

_What happened…? I've always gotten the bulls-eye_!

He glanced over at Sakura, who had immersed herself in a scroll and wasn't paying him any attention, to his relief. Wait – why did he feel like he had to perform in front of her?

He ground his teeth and tried again, over and over until every kunai hit the exact middle of the target.

* * *

Sakura quickly rolled up the medical scroll she had been studying when Itachi plopped down beside her.

"What are you studying?" he asked. She grinned. "An awesome technique that you're not allowed to see yet."

"Hn," Itachi muttered and rolled over onto his side, facing away from her.

Actually, the technique was technically forbidden, because it shortened the user's lifespan. But it basically gave the user a second life, so for skilled medical-nin like Sakura and her teacher, it was worth the risk.

The technique involves channeling a little bit of chakra into the user's forehead every day. When the user is injured, they can release *the great volume of chakra stored in their forehead at once. The body's cell division is forcibly stimulated by proteins, reconstructing all organs and all tissues making up the human body. The technique itself does not regenerate the old cells; rather, it hastens the creation of new ones through division. If this technique is used, a body whose vital organs are so gravely injured that it cannot bear it any longer will be instantly restored to its uninjured state.

However, a body's cells can only split a certain number of times in a lifetime, and by speeding up this process, the user is basically shortening their natural lifespan.*

Sakura had been storing chakra in her forehead for almost a year, and due to this it had begun to expand.** Looking at herself every day, she hadn't noticed the slight change until people began pointing it out. She then asked Tsunade whether there was another way that she could store the chakra, and her teacher told her that she could use a seal. The seal was what Sakura had just been studying.

But she knew that if Itachi worried about her having a flesh wound, he would definitely freak out if she told him that she was working on a technique that would shorten her life, so she didn't.

Instead she asked, "Nee, Ita-senpai?"

"What?" Itachi replied, still irritated about the nickname but having given up on making Sakura drop it.

"Can you teach me another song? Something that we can sing together?"

"Yeah, sure… Let me think of something… Oh, I know one," Itachi said. He began to sing.

"**I was in the cradle of time**

**Saw a fearful, cruel dream of mine **

**But you calmed my soul and you sang a song**

**Melody, melody, your lullaby for me**

**Come and tell me, what did you wish?**"

Itachi stopped suddenly. "Okay, now you sing, '**It's a world that doesn't end**'."

Sakura did as he said.

He began again, "**What I always wished for was this**."

Sakura sang, "**Was it that the world should end?**"

Their voices merged in harmony, "**Gentle, claming, the chosen voice**."

Itachi: "**So confused**."

Sakura: "**Suffering**."

Itachi: "**Yet laughing**."

Sakura: "**And will keep on**

**Singing out**."

Itachi: "**Turning all the grief… into happiness**."

Sakura: "**Turning all the pain… into everlasting smiles.**"

Itachi: "**Is your ending your pay… 'cause of all the things that you did?**"

Sakura: "**Only praying and**

**Waiting at defeat… protecting this world.**"

Itachi: "**Waiting at defeat… just to save you.**"

Sakura: "**Sad but it's true…**"

Itachi: "**Sadly…**"

Both: "**All of our thoughts don't meet.**"

Sakura: "**Let me grant as I sing, circulating, peace to this world; you receive my blessing.**"

Itachi: "**I want to end, all of its life with my hands… It might be my last chance.**"

Sakura: "**But I failed, 'cause I could not…**"

Itachi: "**I couldn't ever try to…**"

Both: "**Start to convey**

**What we wished had been left somewhere in the grey.**"

Itachi: "**Starting again**

**Oh why? Everything was stolen away… yet you still, carried what, all the grief and pain weigh and…**"

Sakura: "**Endlessly shine, future of mine… here in this realm, in this requiem.**"

Itachi: "**Let everything of this fate we can't flee… turn to nothingness.**"

Sakura: "**Let all the light, fate and dark might… turn away.**"

Both: "**And let us be free.**"

Itachi: "**Come and tell me, what did you wish?**"

Sakura: "**For the present time to go.**"

Itachi: "**What I always wished for was always this.**"

Sakura: "**So you want to turn backwards?**"

Both: "**You're the one I had chased around.**"

Itachi: "**It's your soft, gentle smile; so please come and stay awhile.**"

Itachi: "**Turning all the pain into hope again.**"

Sakura: "**With this endless voice, I will sing; it is my choice.**"

Itachi: "**You will hear me screaming, if it was your fate to go and die.**"

Sakura: "**Only praying and…**"

Itachi: "**With this endless song, far but never gone.**"

Sakura: "**Even if this is the only chance, then…**"

Both: "**Let it resound again.**"

Sakura: "**Let me grant as I sing, circulating, peace to this world; you receive my blessing**

**Let all the light, fate and dark might turn away and finally be free.**"

Itachi: "**Let your singing voice… Grant eternal life**

**Is your ending your pay… 'cause of all the things that you did?**

**Even if this is the only chance then**

**Let it resound again.**

**Come and tell me, what did you wish?**

**What I always wished for was this**

**Gentle voice, you were left behind**

**All the pain that remain while I remember you**

**Only one had begun to sing a song for you**

**Only one, humming on to sing…**"

Sakura: "**Let me grant as I sing, circulating, peace to this world; you receive my blessing.**"

Itachi: "**If I will end all of the life with my hands… It might be my last chance.**"

Sakura: "**Even if it is fate…**"

Itachi: "**If it's heading towards…**"

Both: "**Meeting an end**

**I don't care where we'll be, I want you with me.**"

Itachi: "**And the voice is granting all eternity to us.**"

Sakura: "**Endlessly shine, future of mine… here in this realm, in this requiem.**"

Itachi: "**We are here, together; we will fade among ruin.**"

Sakura: "**Let everything of this fate we can't flee… turn to nothingness.**"

Itachi: "**Let all the light, fate and dark might… turn away.**"

Both: "**And let us be free**

**In eternal light for eternity.**"

Sakura exhaled after holding the final high note. "That song was awesome!" she exclaimed once she had caught her breath. "I didn't really get the lyrics, though… what's it about?"

"It's about two people who were close, but they were separated. They both went through hard times, but were reunited again: except the guy now hates everyone except for the girl, who still has hope," Itachi explained.

"That's so sad," Sakura whispered.

"I know more sad songs," Itachi replied. "In our clan, there's a legend called Tsuru no Ongaeshi: The Grateful Crane. It starts with the girl's point of view."

Sakura: "**The powdery snow**

**Flutters to the ground,**

**Painting the mountain ridge pure white.**

**The two figures inside the run-down house**

**Huddle close, to be warm**

**In the winter's night.**

**'****Remember when we met?**

**It was snowing just like this.'**

**You whispered with a smile so soft and gentle.**

**And I hide my crimson face into your chest,**

**Not letting you see I was becoming sentimental.**

**With a joyous long breath,**

**I sang the spring song with the gorgeous, brand-new spring birds.**

**'****Your voice is so beautiful,' you looked up and said to me.**

**And my happiness flew with just those simple, kind words.**

**'****But if, someday, I didn't have this beautiful voice to sing,**

**Would you, even then still, be in love with me?'**

**'****Of course,' you stated quickly, with that same gentle smile,**

**And your hand stroked my cheek so lovingly.**

**One leaf-lit afternoon,**

**Alarmed by a crash,**

**You had collapsed from a spontaneous disease.**

**Our unfortunate, poor, married life**

**Couldn't bear to afford the medicine we dearly need.**

**The next day that came,**

**And the one following,**

**I did nothing but tirelessly weave.**

**I refused to let your well-spent life fall**

**Like the short-lived, withering autumn leaves.**

**The seasons go on by;**

**The crickets sound outside to announce the summer has come to an end.**

**Your fingers are beautiful, you said, matter-of-fact-like.**

**Gripping with your far too cold hands, I am terribly frightened.**

**'****If someday, I no longer had these beautiful fingers,**

**Would you, even then still, be in love with me?'**

**'****Of course,' you declare with a wretched cough**

**As your hands held my pained ones carefully.**

**Days and nights go by; I cannot stop this weaving.**"

Itachi: "**Ah, the sunset's clear breeze**…"

Sakura: "**Hurry, for the medicine, I can't stop this**."

Itachi: "**…Sways the fruit's flame.**"

Sakura: "**Once more, a little more, before the last leaves fall…**"

Itachi: "**…Until it's blown out.**"

Sakura: "**…Until these fingers can't move; until these feathers no longer exist.**

**'****If, someday, I were no longer a mere human,**

**Would you, even then still, be in love with me?'**

**The truth that I feared was never to be told.**

**I pluck the final feather, so lonely.**"

Itachi: "**'Of course,' I say, smiling gently.**

**I promised to embrace you even when your wings were gone.**

**And the crane that took flight upon that fateful day,**

**I'll remember since the beginning of that dawn,**

**And, just like then, when I said I will always be in love with you.**"

There was a long silence after the song ended, when Sakura was sure that Itachi could hear her heart hammering her chest. _Calm down, Sakura. It's just a song_, she closed her eyes and told herself. She opened her eyes when she felt her heartbeat slow a little, but then it pounded even louder when she realized how close Itachi's face was to hers. She was frozen to the spot – she couldn't move, and the distance between them was closing…

"Sakura-senpai! Itachi-senpai!" Naruto's voice broke the silence, and Itachi and Sakura jerked away from each other as he came bounding over to them, yelling, "I did it! I made two clones!"

"G-good job, Naruto," Sakura praised him, but her eyes were cast down. Naruto, not noticing anything wrong, grinned. "Look: I'll show you!" He grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her away before she could say anything to Itachi.

Why did she feel like that was her last chance to?

* * *

**Ahahahahaha I'm so evil...**

***Definition taken from Narutopedia: ** wiki/Creation_Rebirth

**I was too lazy to type one up in my own words**

****The real reason for Sakura's big forehead! trololol I couldn't resist.**

**Song credits:**

**First song:** _Synchronicity: Requiem of the Spinning World_ by Rin and Len Kagamine

English lyrics by JoyDreamer (deviantART): /art/Synchronicity-Part-1-2-3-English-Translyrics-401702420

**Second song:** _Seasonal Feathers_ by Rin and Len Kagamine

English lyrics by JCWarriorCats (FanFiction): /s/10072635/12/VocaDubs-English-JC-Edition


	12. Chapter 12

**Back early!**

**Thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes for reviewing!**

**This is a short chapter, but one filled with lots of surprises! Not good ones, though...**

* * *

Sakura woke up that morning with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She realized, or thought she realized, what it was at the end of the day, when she made her routine check of her medical pouch to make sure that everything was there. That was when she noticed that she was missing one of her most important surgical tools. It was the one that she had used on herself, to knock Tsunade out that day that she had been drunk. It must have still been at Itachi's house.

She fiddled with her hands as she walked over to the Uchiha district, panicking over what she was going to say if Itachi opened the door. Before she knew it, she was already at the gates to the district. She went over to the guard desk to explain her reason for being there.

Then she leapt back in horror at the sight that greeted her. Behind the desk, the two guards were lying in their own pools of blood. Both of their flak jackets were cut the same way, the slash as long as their torsos.

_Itachi_, Sakura thought, and without a thought for her own safety, made a mad dash for her teammate's house. She had to leap over bodies on her way there. She nearly cried when she saw Mikoto and Sasuke lying there, side by side in death. Sasuke had been way too young to die. He'd had a very promising future, being Itachi's brother…

Sakura was scanning the bodies to see if any of them was Itachi's, when she heard the sound of swords clashing. She rushed over to where the noise was coming from.

The scene before her made her blood run cold.

Itachi and Shisui were attacking each other, with so much killer intent radiating off of them that it made Sakura take a step backward and hide in the bushes.

She gasped in horror when she saw that one of Shisui's eye sockets was empty. She glanced at Itachi, but there was barely a scratch on him. _Shisui must have killed everyone_, Sakura realized. _There's no way that Itachi could have done it without getting a single injury in the process. The Uchiha would never have gone done without a fight_.

The decision was fully made for her when she saw Itachi collapse suddenly, and the tomoe in Shisui's Sharingan spun into a pinwheel pattern.

The Mangekyō Sharingan, received when one kills their best friend.

"Itachi!" Sakura screamed her teammate's name. Shisui turned to look at her, and she charged at him. But, blind with rage, she didn't notice that Itachi had gotten up. She only felt herself being slammed into Shisui, and a sword going through both of their bodies at once.

Itachi drew the sword out, and both of them fell to the ground.

"I'll be taking this eye, now," Sakura's teammate smiled a smile that was full of pure evil, and took Shisui's remaining eye. Then he body-flickered away.

Sakura tried to get up to go after him, but any movement sent unbearable pain thundering throughout her body. She could barely breathe. She had been stabbed through the heart, and people who had that done to them didn't survive.

But she had the Creation Rebirth no Jutsu. She could heal herself, and then Shisui…

She ignored the pain that shot through her and turned her head to look at Shisui. His eyes were blank as they stared up at the night sky, unblinking. Sakura reached out her hand to touch his wrist and feel if there was pulse.

Nothing.

Then she saw the eye that he had somehow hidden from Itachi resting on his open palm, and she knew that Shisui would have wanted to take it, in order to avenge his clan.

Sakura lifted her arms to make a hand seal, and released all of the chakra she had been storing up for the past year from her forehead. She felt her wound healing, and the pain fading away. Now, it was being replaced with pure hatred.

She took the eye from Shisui's hand and switched it with her right one.

Her body racked with sobs, Sakura thought, _I'll avenge you, Shisui, Mikoto, Sasuke… all of the innocent people that Itachi killed… Itachi… my own teammate… the boy I_… Then her gaze hardened, and she whispered in her mind, _Hate_, before she blacked out.

* * *

**I don't get how these anime characters can just rip their own eyeballs out without even flinching... I guess that's why they only exist in computers X/**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes for reviewing! Haha, that chapter really was a shocker, wasn't it**

**Hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

Sakura was first aware of a pain in her chest. It wasn't sharp, like a wound: it was more of an ache, but somehow it was much more painful than any injury. She floundered in the darkness, wondering where it was coming from, and wanting it to stop. But she reached a wall every time she tried to find it. It was like her own brain was hiding something from her.

When she opened her eyes, her right one stung. Suddenly, it all came flooding back to her. Her teammate had massacred his clan, nearly killing her as well, and defected from the village. She had taken Shisui's eye and switched it with her own, which was why it was so painful. Then she had most likely blacked out from chakra loss.

She squeezed her eyes shut again, not wanting to think about that. But the images in her head just got worse, so she forced them back open.

That was when Tsunade saw that she was awake. "Sakura!" she cried. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura wanted to tell her teacher that she was fine, but for some reason, she only had the strength to moan. "It hurts… my chest."

Tsunade gave her an odd look. "Where?"

"Left," Sakura choked out, curling into a fetal position at the agony.

"Here: I'll get you some anesthetic," Tsunade told her, and exited the room.

Sakura lay there, whimpering occasionally. She vaguely wondered why it hurt so much when she had healed herself. Had the technique only worked on the surface? Did she have internal bleeding? But then the pain became too much to bear and she just decided to trust her teacher's medical abilities.

Tsunade came back and injected her with anesthetic, and she finally fell back into blissful nothingness.

* * *

Sakura woke and had to be re-injected with anesthetic several more times before she finally thought, _I can't do this anymore. I have to do something_. So she got up and went to a training field, a different one than where she had met Naruto, and practiced her taijutsu. Her body was stiff all over from days of just lying there, which she now regretted.

It felt satisfying to punch the ground and have it crumble before her eyes. She imagined that a spot was Itachi and took out all of her anger the past few days out on it.

* * *

Anko knocked on the door to the Hokage building with her right hand, a box of dango in her left. A guard opened the door. "May I help you?"

"Is Hokage-sama's daughter here?" Anko asked him. He shook his head. "Sakura-sama went to Training Ground 66."

"Okay. Thank you," Anko replied, and rushed over to the training ground.

When she got there, she saw Sakura repeatedly slamming her fists and feet into a single spot on the ground, which now had an enormous hole with huge cracks spreading out from the centre where she punched and kicked it. Anko had seen Sakura's superhuman strength many times before, but she had never seen her put so much intent behind it. She could literally feel the killer intent radiating off of her best friend, who was so focused that she didn't even notice her standing there.

Anko watched her sadly. Kakashi had told her how close Sakura had been to Itachi. She was no doubt imagining that the spot on the ground was her teammate.

Finally, Sakura stopped beating up the ground. She swayed a little, and dropped to the floor on her knees. Anko rushed over to her. "Sakura, are you all right?"

Sakura looked up at her best friend. "Yeah," she replied, but her voice was hollow.

Anko sighed. She always got the same answer out of Sakura, even thought it clearly wasn't true. "Have some dango," she handed the box to Sakura, who hadn't eaten in days. She continued, "If you don't want to talk, that's fine, but if you do, you know I'll always be there for you."

"Thank you, An-sensei," Sakura whispered with just the faintest trace of a smile. Then she began to wolf down the dango.

But Anko knew that Sakura wasn't just thanking her for the dumplings.

When Sakura finished eating, she asked, "How's Kaka-taichō doing?"

Anko bowed her head. "Not too well. He really liked you two, you know. He tries to hide it, but he really feels the loss of one of his students. I think… I think you guys reminded him of his genin team."

"Kaka-taichō had a team?" Sakura asked. Come to think of it, she knew the genin teams of every jōnin in the village – except for Kakashi's.

"His teammates and sensei all died," Anko told her. Sakura gasped. Kakashi's past had truly been horrible. Her troubles paled in comparison.

However, she knew that if she were given the choice of dying or becoming evil, she would choose the first in a heartbeat. Maybe it would have been better off if Itachi had died.

_I'll just do it for him, then_, Sakura vowed.

* * *

"Sakura, are you feeling up to a mission?" Tsunade asked her student when she came back into the Hokage office.

"What kind of mission is it?" Sakura inquired.

"It's an extended one," Tsunade replied. "Kakashi-san will be on it, too, so he can help you when you need it. The mission is to look after Naruto."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Sure, I accept!"

"Wait a second: you haven't heard all of the details yet," Tsunade told her, laughing. "You're not just watching him like a normal ANBU mission. I want you to join his genin team."

"Wait… so Kaka-taichō will be our sensei… then who'll be the other member of the team?"

"Sai, from Root," Tsunade answered.

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You're making me work with _him_?!"

"He's not in Root anymore, so try to forget your differences," Tsunade replied.

"Wait: why did he quit Root?" Sakura demanded.

"He didn't. It got disbanded when Itachi killed Danzō," Tsunade explained.

Sakura's eyes widened. "I-Ita-_he_ killed Danzō?" Memories came flooding back to Sakura when her lips formed the nickname that she had given to her teammate. She shook her head, trying to get rid of them.

"I accept the mission," she told Tsunade. It would be a welcome distraction.

* * *

**Review please! And check out my other story: it's called Megumi (愛).**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes and StarKiss666 for reviewing! Yes, Sakura's going to tilt her headband ;) and yes, Itachi killed Sasuke :'(**

**I think Sai deserves some more attention, so here's some of him for you guys!**

* * *

"Class, we have two new students joining us for the genin test today," Iruka Umino addressed his students. Then he turned to Sakura and Sai. "Would you two please intro –"

"Sakura-senpai!" Naruto yelled before Iruka finished his sentence, waving madly.

"Naru-chan!" Sakura waved back, equally as enthusiastically. Iruka sweatdropped, while the rest of the class gave her odd looks and started whispering. Sai just stood still, the same fake smile on his face that was always there, even when Sakura challenged him to fights. They didn't really know each other, but they had a mutual dislike for each other because one was in the Hokage's ANBU and the other was in Danzō's Root. Or, had been in Root, before…

Sakura cleared her throat. "Um, anyways, my name's Sakura! I like nice people and dango! In fact, my favourite phrase is 'hana yori dango'.* I dislike bullies… and weasels."** Sai gave her an odd look at that, but she continued, "My dream… is to kill a certain someone." Her gaze darkened at that, but then it brightened again. "Oh, and to become Hokage!"

"What about you, Sai?" Iruka asked Sakura's soon-to-be teammate.

"Hm…" Sai thought for a moment. "My name's Sai… actually, that's not true: I don't really have a name… umm… I don't particularly like anything… I don't really dislike anything, either… My dream… well, I don't really have one…"

Sakura sweatdropped. "You like drawing, don't you?" she asked Sai. He had used drawn creatures and made them come to life when he fought her, so it only made sense that he would enjoy drawing.

"It's o –" Sai's next words were drowned out by a bunch of fangirls screaming, "Sai-senpai's so cool!"

Sakura facepalmed. _I'm glad I only have to deal with these kids for a day_.

"Anyways, let's get to the testing now!" Iruka raised his voice over those of the fangirls. The class groaned, while Sakura grinned. She had this in the bag.

She had never taken the genin test before, as she had jumped straight into ANBU. It was obvious that she was perfectly qualified to be a genin, but protocol demanded that she had to take the test before she could officially be recognized as one. Not that Sakura wanted to be demoted to a genin, but she couldn't join Naruto's team if she wasn't one.

Judging from the class' reaction to her, she hadn't been recognized as the Hokage's daughter. She could see why: she wasn't wearing her goggles, and one of her eyes was green, and the other one was red. She'd removed her goggles on purpose: she didn't want anyone targeting Naruto to know that she was an ANBU. They would be less careful that way.

Sakura was a very common name: which Sakura guessed was the reason why her mother had chosen it for her. It was also good because she didn't want to lie again.

"First is the Transformation no Jutsu!" Iruka called. "First up, Sai!"

Iruka was calling the names in alphabetical order, which meant that Sai didn't have a last name. Sakura wondered what his past had been like, before he joined Root. He must be an orphan like Naruto, but unlike Naruto, he didn't know any of his parents' last names. His only motivation in life must have been his training. Suddenly, Sakura's dislike towards him for joining Root lessened.

Sai, of course, transformed into an exact replica of Iruka. "Next, Sakura!" the Academy teacher announced. Sakura hadn't even told her teacher of her identity, so for now, she was without a surname.

After she had performed the technique, Iruka kept going down the list of names. Sakura nudged a blushing Naruto with her elbow when he reached Ino Yamanaka.

Ino was one of the Sai fangirls. Sakura remembered that a certain someone had told her that already…

She shook her head. _Stop thinking about him_!

"Okay, next will be the Clone no Jutsu," Iruka announced. "Sai, you're up!"

"Um… I'm not exactly sure how to perform this technique…" Sai admitted.

Iruka stared at him in disbelief, but he caught himself from mentioning that Sai was an ANBU. "Here, I'll demonstrate," the Academy teacher said. "Clone no Jutsu!"

It was lucky that he did, so that Sakura could use her Sharingan to copy the technique as he performed it. She remembered the time when she had wished for the Sharingan. But she would never have wanted to obtain it the way that she had.

"That guy doesn't know how to do the Clone no Jutsu? Fail!" Naruto's snort broke into Sakura's thoughts.

She grinned sheepishly at him. "Actually, neither do I."

"What?!" Naruto's jaw dropped in amazement. "How could you not know that? That's, like, in the top three easiest techniques!"

"It's also one of the most useless ones, 'cause the clones are just illusions without any substance," Sakura replied. "So I learned the Water Clone no Jutsu instead."

"Oh… so what are you going to do?" Naruto asked her.

"Well, I can just use my Sharingan to copy the technique," Sakura told him.

He gasped. "Sharin –?"

Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shh! Don't go broadcasting the fact that I have one to the whole world!" she hissed into his ear.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized, matching her volume. "But – how did you get that? And what happened to your gogg –?"

Sakura had to cover his mouth again. "I don't want anyone to know who I am," she whispered.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"I'll tell you later," Sakura said.

"Sakura!" Iruka called.

Sakura went up to the front of the classroom and executed the technique flawlessly. "Done," Iruka told her, and she dispelled her clones.

When Naruto's name was called, he bounded up to the front and managed to create three clones. Sakura gave him a round of applause.

After Ino had gone, they moved on to the Substitution no Jutsu, which Sai and Sakura were both able to do, and then they began strength testing.

"You will be tested on how far you can throw a kunai," Iruka stated. Sakura pouted. "Aw, that's boring!"

"Well, you don't have to do it. You'd probably launch it all the way across the ocean to the Mist," Iruka told her.

The Mist… that village brought up so many bad memories. _Ah, everything reminds me of him! I can't escape_! Sakura clutched her head.

"… kura… Sakura!" she heard her name being called. "Are you all right?" Iruka asked her.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Iruka-sensei," Sakura shook herself out of it. Iruka looked at her sympathetically. "I think we're all a little bit shaken up after the Uchiha massacre," he said.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she began shaking at the memory of all of those bodies littered on the ground in pools of blood, of Shisui's empty eye sockets, of Itachi stabbing both of them through the heart…

Suddenly, Sakura felt a hand being placed on her shoulder and turning her away from Iruka. "Let's not talk about that, nee, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked his teacher.

"Of course. Sorry," Iruka apologized immediately. Sakura could only nod.

* * *

The next day, Iruka announced the names of the people who had passed the genin test. Naruto had, just barely: thanks to Sakura's training.

Of course, Sakura and Sai had passed as well. Sakura took the forehead protector that Iruka gave her and tied it around her head. Then she slid the left side of it down to cover her green eye. If anyone ever realized that she was the Hokage's supposed daughter, it would be easier to explain the Sharingan than her normal eye. Unlike Kakashi, Sakura had tons of chakra, with hers and the Six-Tails' combined. So she could keep her Sharingan eye open to use it if she needed to, without having to worry about the extra chakra that it would spend.

"Now, I'll read out the teams," Iruka stated to the class. A hush of anticipation fell over the room.

"Team Kakashi Hatake: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura –"

"Yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. Sakura grinned.

"– and Sai," Iruka finished. Naruto groaned, while Sai just smiled his usual fake smile. Sakura got the feeling that Naruto had noticed Ino's feelings for Sai – if they could be called that, after her meeting Sai for five minutes – and Naruto was jealous of him. Sakura grinned. Her little cousin was adorable: and he would definitely be worth teasing in the future.

"Team Kurenai Yūhi: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyūga, and Kiba Inuzuka. Team Asuma: Chōji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka."

Sakura patted Naruto on the head. "Ah, don't worry about Ino, Naru-chan. Members of the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka clans are always put on the same team."

"W-what?! I wasn't worried!" Naruto protested passionately. Sakura just grinned cheekily at him. "Sure: whatever you say, Naru-chan."

They bantered back and forth for a while, until everyone else had met their teachers and left the Academy, for good. "Where is our teacher?" Naruto finally asked. Sakura shrugged. "He's not –"

Her eyes widened as her Sharingan suddenly noticed a blade coming towards her.

* * *

**Ah, poor, poor Sakura. She just can't escape, can she?**

***Hana yori dango is a Japanese expression that literally translates to dumplings over flowers, referring to substance over beauty.**

****Weasel is Itachi in Japanese. I just couldn't resist doing this ;P**

**Review! ^^**


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks to the advanced warning her Sharingan gave her, Sakura was able to pull out her sword and deflect the weapon in time –

_Wait, deflect it? My lightning release should have been able to cut through that blade_! Sakura was panicking, until she saw the mass of grey hair that she had become so familiar with. "Kaka-taichō!"

"Yo," Kakashi gave her a casual peace sign.

Sakura glared at him. "What the heck was that for?"

"I just wanted to see if your skill level had stayed the same," her captain replied mildly.

Sakura facepalmed. "I think you scared one of your students," she pointed to Naruto, who was trembling under a desk, eyes bulging.

"Oh, hello, there," Kakashi smiled his one-eyed smile at Naruto. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, and I'm your new sensei. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Naruto grinned, having recovered from his scare. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! I like ramen, ramen, and ramen! Oh, and nice people. I dislike bullies, and people who act all cool, like that teme over there." He glared over at Sai, and then his expression brightened when he stated, "My dream is to become the best Hokage in the history of the world!"

"Okay, and what about you?" Kakashi gestured to Sai. Sakura snorted. "Don't bother, Taichō. He doesn't have a name, he doesn't like or dislike anything, and he doesn't have any dreams."

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Okay… well then, why don't you go, Sakura?"

"Ah, everybody here knows me already," she said.

"Really? You know Naruto?" Kakashi asked her.

"Yeah, we met a few weeks ago," Sakura told him. A few weeks ago… could it really have been that short of a time?

"By the way, Sakura-nē, why are you in the Academy?" Naruto asked her.

Sakura bit her lip. She really didn't want to lie to Naruto… _But it's for his own safety_. That thought pushed her forward. "I couldn't stay in ANBU, after…" she trailed off, her eyes cast down. She wasn't faking, but it helped her lie. Naruto patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Just forget I asked, okay, Sakura-nē?"

"Yeah, sure," Sakura replied softly.

* * *

The two bells knocked against each other, making jingling noises as Kakashi waved them in the air. "You have three hours to get these from me. Whoever doesn't get one gets sent back to the academy."

"There are only two bells, and three people," Sai remarked.

Kakashi nodded. "Good observation, Sai-kun. But Sakura won't be participating in this one."

"Huh? Why?" Sakura demanded.

"That wouldn't be fair, would it?" Kakashi winked at her. She understood that he couldn't say why in front of the rest of her team.

"All right, then… start!" Kakashi called. Sai body-flickered away to hide somewhere, while Naruto just charged straight at his new teacher. Kakashi just sidestepped him every time he tried to land a punch. Sakura felt bad for Naruto, but it was hilarious watching him try to catch her captain from her spot in the bushes. Kakashi had even pulled out a book and began reading while Naruto tried to attack him.

Sakura used her Sharingan to scan the trees for Sai. She found him crouched behind a row of bushes close by, watching the fight – if you could call it that – to try and get an idea of Kakashi's skill. But Sakura's captain wasn't giving anything away, other than the fact that he could walk.

Then Sai pulled something out of his weapons pouch. Sakura watched in puzzlement as his hand moved in all directions, until she realized that he was drawing something.

Suddenly, a huge black-and-white lion leapt out of the bushes and charged at Kakashi. It seemed to crush him, until he turned into a log.

The real Kakashi landed beside Sakura. "Even an ANBU like Sai doesn't get the point of this test," he sighed.

"The point is to work together, right?" Sakura asked. She knew how much her former captain valued teamwork, and her suspicions were confirmed when Kakashi nodded.

"Isn't what Sai did sort of teamwork?" she asked him. "He used Naruto as a distraction, and then struck."

"Keyword: used," Kakashi stated. "He didn't collaborate with Naruto, he just used him."

Sakura sighed. "Well, you know Root ninja: they do most of their missions solo, and there's no sense of comradeship in the organization. I actually would've thought that Naruto would do better at this."

"Yes, if he used his brain a little more," Kakashi rolled his eyes. Sakura chuckled at her hyperactive little cousin.

Suddenly, she saw someone sneaking towards them out of the corner of her eye. She glanced at Kakashi, whose nod was so shallow she wouldn't have noticed it if not for her Sharingan.

Sakura body-flickered away. She didn't want to get caught in a fight between two ANBU.

She watched her captain fight off the ink beasts that were launched at him, one after the other. He didn't seem to be having too much trouble: as expected of the top ANBU in the village.

She wondered when Sai would realize that Naruto might actually be helpful to him.

* * *

The three hours were nearly up, and Sai and Naruto had gotten nowhere except tired themselves out, while Kakashi was still reading that orange book.

_Wait a second, I've seen that book somewhere before_… Sakura peered closer at what her captain was reading. Then she started. _It's one of Jiraiya-sensei's_! She remembered that Kakashi loved her adopted father's Make-Out book series.

She laughed. _It's kind of insulting for him to be reading that while fighting, especially against Sai_.

She heard poorly disguised footsteps coming towards her direction. She flicked up her Sharingan to see Naruto trying to sneak towards the stump where Kakashi had left his lunch. Sakura grimaced at how loud her cousin was. Even Kakashi, where he was battling Sai, could probably hear Naruto.

True to her thoughts, her captain appeared in front of Naruto. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing!" Naruto insisted.

"Well, you're not supposed to be doing nothing," Kakashi retorted. Sakura stifled a giggle behind her hand.

"Then take this!" Naruto yelled, and punched Kakashi – or tried to, at least. Kakashi facepalmed. "You don't warn your enemies when you're about to strike," he told his student.

"Oh. Oops," Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Then, without warning, he kicked out with his foot.

Kakashi caught it with ease, but nodded with satisfaction. "That's better." Then he looked at his watch. "Your guys' time is up!" he called, loudly so that Sai could hear as well.

Sai trudged out of the woods. Did this mean he had to go back to the Academy? No, that wasn't possible… He was on a mission, and Kakashi knew it. There was something weird about this test. He should've realized it earlier, but he had thought that he would be able to get a bell, with his skills. He knew he was nowhere near Kakashi's caliber, but it wasn't like he was trying to kill him: only get a bell that was just hanging there, without protection.

Well, it was too late now. All he could do was wait for Kakashi to deliver his predicament.

Sai walked over the stump where his teammates were all gathered, and where Naruto had been tied up. Kakashi was calmly eating his lunch while Naruto flailed his limbs, trying to escape from the ropes that bound him to the stump.

Kakashi saw Sai approaching, and was struck with an idea. "Nē, Naruto, you don't like Sai, do you?"

"No, I don't. Why?" Naruto asked. Kakashi didn't answer, but instead handed his lunch to Sai.

"Um, what am I supposed to do with this?" Sai inquired.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I don't know, eat it? Oh, and don't give anything to Naruto."

"Hai," Sai replied, and began to eat, while Naruto's moaned, "Food…"

"Sakura, come over here with me," Kakashi beckoned to his student, who followed him away from the rest of the team.

"Naruto-kun, do you hate me?" Naruto's thoughts of ramen were broken by Sai's voice.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at him. "Well, maybe hate is too strong of a word…"

"Dislike, then?" Sai asked. Naruto nodded. "That's more like it."

"May I ask why?"

"I guess… I guess it's 'cause you just don't care about anything," Naruto replied. "And also because Sakura-onēchan doesn't like you."

"Do you know the reason why she doesn't like me?" Sai asked him. Naruto shrugged. "No, but I trust her judgement."

"She just doesn't like me because of the organizations that we were in," Sai told him. "It doesn't have anything to do with me: I didn't choose to join Root, you know. Danzō-sama adopted me, and he taught me everything I know."

"Adopted?" Naruto whispered.

Sai nodded. "My parents died on the day that I was born."

Naruto's eyes widened at the familiarity of that statement. "Do you remember them?" he asked Sai.

"No. Even to this day, I still have no idea who they are," Sai answered. "I had a brother, but he died as well."

Naruto's eyes widened even further. "What happened?"

"He died of an illness," Sai replied matter-of-factly.

Naruto hung his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

Sai just shrugged.

Naruto's stomach suddenly grumbled. Sai looked up, and considered him for a second. Then he picked up a ball of rice with his chopsticks and stuck it out. "Here. Have some."

Naruto stared at him. "Seriously?"

Sai tilted his head. "Of course."

"Oh, wow, thanks!" Naruto ate the riceball.

After he finished, he smiled sheepishly at Sai. "Hey, maybe you're not so bad after all."

Before Sai could reply, smoke suddenly exploded in front of them. "You two…!" Kakashi yelled, his eye bulging. And then, suddenly, it closed into a half-circle, and he smiled. "Pass!"

* * *

**Hehehe did I scare you guys at the end of the last chapter?**

Sakura: You're so cute when you're scared, Naru-chan.

Naruto: Sh-shut up!


End file.
